History of Operation Smile in Haiti

First Mission to Haiti

Operation Smile’s inaugural program in Haiti took place in the city of Hinche in March, 2008. The team included plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and others from the United States, Colombia, Brazil, and Canada.

The mission was conducted in collaboration with Partners in Health, or "Zanmi Lasante" (Haitian Kreyol for “Partners in Health”), a non-profit organization that works with the local Ministry of Health and population to provide comprehensive community-based primary care services and treatment for HIV and tuberculosis at nine sites in the Central Plateau and Artibonite.

Yveline after her cleft lip surgery at the Hospital St. Therese. Operation Smile's mission to Haiti was collaborated with Partners in Health.

Both Operation Smile and Partners in Health are recipients of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Award, which recognizes organizations for their commitment to alleviate human suffering.

Zanmi Lasante (ZL) arranged local ground transportation, meals and lodging for the volunteers. In addition, ZL provided certain medical supplies, such as oxygen tanks and IV fluids, which were used during the mission.

ZL successfully cleared Operation Smile’s medical supplies and equipment into the country through their relationship with Haitian customs. ZL also used their extensive community health worker network to contact cleft lip and palate patients and arranged for a shelter to house patients that had traveled long distances.

Several Zanmi Lasante medical staff, including nurse anesthetists, nurses, and Otolaryngologists participated in surgery over a four-day period. Two general anesthesia tables and one local anesthesia table were used to provide surgery to 65 patients.

During the mission, patients with severe craniofacial deformities were identified, and two were flown to Children’s Hospital of Boston to receive free neurological and plastic surgery.

Education

In addition, Operation Smile conducted a Basic Life Support (BLS) training course for 30 Haitian nurses.

Operation Smile is the only organization authorized by the American Heart Association to function as a global and mobile International Training Organization (ITO).

In addition, Operation Smile medical volunteer Dominique DeClerk conducted a Critical Nursing Skills Training Program on March 3 to teach approximately 30 Haitian nurses the critical skills needed for treating children who receive cleft lip and cleft palate reconstructive surgery, focusing on the stages of treatment including pre- and post-operative care, and operating room and recovery room nursing.

On March 5, Operation Smile conducted a medical education conference. Operation Smile Senior Manager of Education Dr. Luis Bermudez lectured on the surgical repair of cleft lips and cleft palates, Operation Smile medical volunteer Dr. Selwyn Rogers gave a presentation titled “Burn Injury,” and Operation Smile volunteer Jeri Hinds, R.N., lectured on immediate burn care.

Partners In Health identified local medical staff and nurses from the National Nursing School in Port-au-Prince to participate in training, and provided Operation Smile with its educational facility, located on the hospital campus, to host the education programs.

At the conclusion of the mission, two operating room nurses traveled to ZL’s Cange facility to help organize their operating room supply-management system and consult about surgical facility layouts.

Second Mission to Haiti

Operation Smile returned to the Hôpital Sainte Therèse in Hinche in December, 2008 and continued its collaboration with Zanmi Lasante to provide 59 patients free reconstructive surgery. The team was comprised of members from Colombia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Russia, and Haiti.

Education

Operation Smile conducted a pre-pharmacology course for nurses in preparation for a Pediatric Advanced Life Support Course. In addition, the Operation Smile team organized an educational evening and provided lectures on: Labor-Delivery/C-Section Analgesia and Anesthesia, the Surgical Repair of Imperforate Anus, Common Pediatric Surgical Problems, Difficult Pediatric Airways and the Management of Laringospasm, and Neonatal Resuscitation and Infant Physiology.

Two patients with severe craniofacial deformities were identified, and arrangements were made to provide them free neurological and plastic surgery at Children’s Hospital of Boston.

In addition, approximately seven children with heart murmurs were identified and were provided follow-up by a Partners in Health cardiologist who comes quarterly to the Central Plateau with a portable echocardiogram machine.

Third Mission to Haiti

Operation Smile was scheduled to return once again to Hinche, Haiti, to continue its work and partnership with Zanmi Lasante, however national elections took place in Haiti on April 19, 2009 and it was decided that it would be safer for the team to operate in Port-au-Prince.

Operation Smile and Zanmi Lasante provided 50 free surgeries at the Hôpital de la Paix from April 20 to 26. In addition to providing consultations to each surgical candidate in plastic surgery, anesthesia, pediatrics, nursing, speech pathology, and dentistry, the team dentist created a free dental clinic and extracted 65 additional teeth for members in the community with significant tooth decay. Two surgical patients had high blood pressure, so they were provided free medication, and referred to a free health clinic for follow-up.

Education

Just prior to the medical mission, Operation Smile ran a Pediatric Advanced Life Support course (PALS) in Cange, Haiti. Twenty-three nurses participated and passed. It was discovered that there are no defibrillators available to professionals in the Central Plateau, so Operation Smile has plans to donate defibrillators to the nine ZL sites.