Mpumalanga, South Africa: August 17 - 22

October 21, 2009

Greetings Operation Smile Family!

It is with great pleasure that I inform you of the very successful mission that Operation Smile South Africa (OSSA) completed at Rob Ferreira Hospital, in Nelspruit, South Africa.

It is our third surgical mission to South Africa and a multi-disciplinary team of 35 volunteers, 90 percent of them from South Africa as well as others from Kenya, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and the USA, worked for five days to screen 52 patients and provide free, life-changing surgical care for 31 children and adults.

The patients for this surgical mission were not just from within the Mpumalanga Province but some also traveled from the Limpopo Province and six patients came from Swaziland.

OSSA worked very closely with not just the Mpumalanga Provincial Department of Health, but also the Swaziland Ministry of Health and the South African Department of Health in order to obtain special permission for these patients to travel across borders and receive life-changing surgery.

In addition to the 31 patients who were provided free surgery during the mission, 10 others who were not candidates for the mission, were referred to either Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban with Professor Anil Madaree (OSSA Medical Director) or Pretoria Academic Hospital in Pretoria with Professor Piet Coetzee. These patients will be provided with the necessary medical care and support from these hospitals and medical professionals!

The success of the mission can be attributed to the hard work, dedication, and commitment of many parties including our provincial hosts and volunteers, our year round South African financial and in-kind partners and our medical and non medical team members, the South African and Swaziland Ministries of Health, the Mpumalanga Provincial Department of Health (DoH), provincial health care and community development workers and Rob Ferreira Hospital in Nelspruit.

The outstanding staff of Rob Ferreira Hospital provided the perfect atmosphere for the entire team to feel welcome in Mpumalanga, as both groups worked toward a common goal of helping children and adults suffering from clefts. The cohesive partnership between the Mpumalanga Department of Health, Rob Ferreira Hospital and the Operation Smile team was instrumental to the success of the mission.

ACTS Clinic provided the accommodation for patients and family members who were not staying at Rob Ferreira Hospital. It was a home away from home for these patients and everyone was welcomed with open arms!

The one week post-op proved to be extremely positive as all 31 of the patients returned and looked fantastic, all with big new smiles. Patients were told of OSSA’s plans to return in February 2010 to Nelspruit and Swaziland for the six month assessment to determine what follow up care is needed for the patients. Coinciding with this assessment OSSA will conduct another pre-screening to assess what the need is for our services in the province, and how we can assist these patients by also providing free surgery to those children and adults that the team was unable to assist during this mission.

In the end, the combination of experience and effort by the Operational Smile team, the commitment of the Mpumalanga Department of Health, community members and national and local businesses, and the generosity and hospitality of Rob Ferreira Hospital made for an incredibly successful mission during which we were able to change the lives of many children and adults, and that of their families, forever. Operation Smile South Africa looks forward to many more successful programs within the province by working together to create long term sustainability through capacity building and collaborations.

A huge thank you to everyone from Operation Smile, Inc., and all other foundations for continual support and also a good luck and congratulations for our other missions taking place!

Regards,

Tamlin Grier
Program Coordinator, Operation Smile South Africa
OSSA Team

Local mission sites: Durban and Mt. Frere