Nanchang, China: August 13-18

Tuesday, Aug. 18: Final Thoughts from Nanchang
and Why We Need Your Help

Dear Friends of Operation Smile,

This is our last posting from our 2009 Mission to Nanchang China. We have had a wonderful and safe mission, and this has been an incredible opportunity for our Operation Smile team and the children and families of Nanchang.

I am so honored and thankful for having the opportunity to serve on this team, and to bring the sights, stories, sounds, and feelings from the mission to you as best as I could. I appreciate your support and comments all along the way! 

Although I have done blogs on previous missions, this was the first one in which I incorporated audio, video and some social networking sites. I would really appreciate if you could take a moment to leave a comment on this blog to share your thoughts and feelings about the mission, your ideas, or your feedback on the te

Finally, on behalf of all the children of Operation Smile, in China and all over the world, I would like to ask for your help. If you were moved by what you experienced here in Nanchang, I ask you to consider helping Operation Smile do more of this kind of work by making an online donation and visit Operation Smile at this link. Your help will allow us to help more kids like Qian Yu who get turned away on every mission, despite our efforts.

Dr. Bill Magee, co-founder of Operation Smile, has often said that in life, there are no ordinary moments. And that some of the most significant times of our lives happen as a result of events that at first, seem to be very insignificant.  

According to my website report, there are 463 of you out there following along on the mission to Nanchang with several hundred more following the Twitter feed. You come from 15 countries: China, Australia, the Philippines, Canada, Vietnam, India, Brazil, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Guatemala, Japan, Italy, Hong Kong and the United States.

So, our community has grown and in fact, this has been no ordinary moment. Please take this chance to help Operation Smile truly change lives around the world ... one smile at a time.

Thanks for following our team, and thanks for your help! All the best, and see you on another mission.  :)

Peace,

Jeff

Tuesday, Aug. 18: Last Day of Post-Op :)

Hello Friends of Operation Smile!

The last day of our mission has arrived, and all the patients have ben discharged from the hospital, on their way back to their homes and villages, far and near. All told, the team provided surgery for almost 50 children over three surgical days on our mission to Nanchang, while our teammates at our second site in Nanyang had similar successes.

The last day of post-op is always bittersweet for me. It is great to see the children going home to their families, in many cases to begin their new lives with their new smiles and inner confidence. For the babies, we know they will have better chances of feeding and growing along a more healthy pace as their cleft lips and palates begin to heal. For the children that we couldn't help, like my friend Qian Yu, there is the hope and the promise of another chance on another day on a future mission. Also, we have made new friendships with our Chinese hosts, as well as international volunteers from the Philippines, Vietnam, India, Hong Kong and Australia. 

The opportunity to work hand in hand with this international community is an honor, and a privilege which we do not take lightly. It's a firsthand chance to really see that people are people all over the world, and a lesson in cooperation and understanding that we all take with us for the rest of our lives. We have learned as much from our Chinese counterparts as we have hoped to teach. In a short period of time, we have developed a mutual trust with our new friends in Nanchang.

And so, for these reasons, the last day of post-op is a wonderful capstone to an incredible Operation Smile experience. Yet, the  last day also signifies that our work here has come to an end for now. And soon, the team that formed so quickly will soon be going back to their own lives as well. I have written many times in the past that the last day of a mission feels like the end of a wonderful summer camp. We want to go home and see our friends and families, but it feels like we don't just yet want to leave either...

Dr. Bill Magee, co-founder of Operation Smile, has often said that no greater bonds of friendship are forged than in the service of others. And when Operation Smile volunteers come together in the name of helping a child, these bonds are formed for life. On this mission, I was fortunate to be able to meet up with several friends I met on previous missions to China, some as long as 8 years ago. Yet, we were like old friends again...  It's just another thing that keeps me coming back year after year.

So, enjoy these scenes from our last day in Nanchang. The team has some free time in Beijing coming up, and I will be posting one more update, so please stay tuned!

Thanks and all the best,

Jeff

Sunday, Aug. 16: The Story of Qian Yu

Good morning from China,

I wanted to share a story with you about a three-year old girl named Qian Yu. I met Qian Yu and her grandmother just as we were finishing up screening and had already finalized our operating room schedule. Qian Yu is a beautiful but shy little girl with big brown eyes and a smile that melts your heart. In Qian Yu, my mind's eye saw my own daughter as she looked just a few years ago. 

But deep within her eyes and the eyes of her grandmother was a sadness that you could almost feel when you started talking with them. Qian Yu's mouth has been deformed by some type of past infection or burn when she was younger, an injury that likely went untreated at the time. Now that she is 3 years old, she has lost much of her lower lip and some of the function of her mouth.

Qian Yu's grandmother turned to Operation Smile and traveled 2 hours to Nanchang because she had no where else to go. You see, because of her deformity, the child's parents came to the decision that they could no longer raise her. Thankfully, her grandmother stepped in to care for this beautiful girl.

But like so many of the families we speak with, her grandmother told stories of how she had tried to send Qian Yu to the local school, only to find out the other children would not accept her and made fun of her for the way she looked. The school officials told her to come back another time.

And so I met Qian Yu and her grandmother, and their story began to unfold. For many reasons, including our available time and resources this mission, we were not able to help Qian Yu this time around. This is one of the most difficult parts of any Operation Smile mission: knowing that no matter how hard you try, there will be some kids who get turned away. 

Having this conversation was a very emotional time for me as I wondered what effect this decision might have on Qian Yu's life: how she would develop; whether she would be educated; and all the related questions. I thought about how unfair life can be to the most vulnerable among us. It also reinforces how blessed we are really are when it comes to access to healthcare for our own children.

Just as I was beginning to end my conversation with Qian Yu and her grandmother, feeling about as sad as you can be, her grandmother said Qian Yu wanted to take a picture with me. She explained that everyone here with Operation Smile was so kind to her and her granddaughter, that they wanted to remember this day for her whole life. 

So, we took the picture and I printed out a copy for the family. On the back of the picture, I wrote "Operation Smile, Nanchang, 2009. We will always remember you. :)"  I asked the grandmother to take extra special care of Qian Yu, and with many smiles on their part and tears on mine, they left the hospital.

I saw the family again the next day, unable to come to terms with leaving the hospital yet, Qian Yu still in her little red dress, holding the teddy bear that I gave her in one hand, and clutching the picture we took in a small plastic bag in the other. We smiled, and she waved, and I cried.

It's the kids like Qian Yu that keep Operation Smile volunteers coming back year after year. For even though we can help many children each mission, there are more that we cannot. When you support Operation Smile through your donations of time, talent or treasure, you are helping us take care of more children each year, so that kids like Qian Yu do not get turned away.

So, for me, Nanchang will for ever be remembered by Qian Yu, my three-yer old little sweetheart.

Jeff

Saturday, Aug. 15: Post-Op

Friday, Aug. 14: Stories from the the first day of surgery

Good morning from Nanchang!

Today (Friday) was our first official day of surgery. Fifteen children were on the OR list for today. These kids had correctable facial deformities like cleft lip and cleft palate. We have three operating rooms going at once on this mission, with a team of surgeons, anesthesiologists and OR nurses in each suite. It was a smooth and safe day today, and all the kids look great!

As the children are for surgery, they have a chance to spend some time in our pre-op playroom. Here, they are able to get ready for surgery, and also spend some one-on-one time with our child life therapist, making sure they know what to expect when they  see the nurses and doctors. This opportunity for play therapy helps to reduce any anxiety the children may have before surgery.

Watch a video of the pre-op playroom here.

In most cases, cleft lip or cleft palate surgery lasts from 1 to 2 hours. When done, kids are taken to our recovery room to wake up  from anesthesia, and then later to the post-op floor in the hospital where they will spend 1-2 nights before going home. More about this later.

For now, enjoy some images from the start of our first surgical day in Nanchang.

We awoke this morning to find our screening day covered in the local newspaper on the front page, prominently featuring Keith, our pediatrician, and Henry, our pediatric intenisivist. You will also see the sign below informing families when to return for surgery that we post in the lobby of the hospital.  

Thank you for supporting Operation Smile by following the team on this mission! 

I would like to send a big hello back to out friends and families watching this all over the world. We love you and miss you. 

:) Jeff

Good morning!

Yesterday Team Nanchang greeted a crowd of about 100 patients and their families. When the day was done, we had screening 86 children and scheduled 48 patients for surgery over the next 4 days. 

During screening, each child starts with the medical records station where their chart is started and a picture is taken for identification. The patient has their vital signs taken by our pre-op nurses, and then progresses through a series of stations including pediatrics, anesthesia, plastic surgery, and dental. At the end, they each meet with our speech therapist who helps the family learn to better support the child's speech development, and nutritional and feeding needs. I'll write more on each of these as the week unfolds.

Team meeting late last night to get ready for today, Friday, our first day of surgery. We are ready for a great week!

Enjoy some pictures from the first part of screening.

For more screening pictures, watch a slideshow of pictures from screening day or comment on my blog.

Thanks again for being a friend of Operation Smile!

- Jeff 

Thursday, Aug. 13: Sounds from Screening

Wednesday, Aug. 12: Travel to Nanchang

August 12, 2009

Good evening, Friends of Operation Smile,

The team spent most of Wednesday traveling from Beijing to our final destination - the city of Nanchang. After a brief tour of the hospital, and an initial team meeting, our in-country hosts welcomed the Operation Smile team with a traditional Chinese dinner.

Tomorrow, we will begin screening patients for surgery over the next week, and this is why the team has traveled to far. It's an early rise, with a morning team meeting over breakfast, and then on to the hospital. I hope to write more tomorrow about screening and post pictures from our day.

Thanks for following the mission so far. For now, enjoy a few scenes from our trip.

- Jeff 

Since its first international mission in 1991, Operation Smile medical volunteers have provided free physical examinations to more than 13,150 Chinese children suffering with facial deformities and more than 8,500 have received free reconstructive surgery.

First international mission: 1991

International mission sites: Beijing, Dujiang-Yan, Foshan, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Kunming, Lanzhou, Linyi, Meizhou, Nanchang, Nanyang, Nanjing, Quingdao, Shantou, Urumqi, Wu Han City, Xi'an, Zhaoqing, Zhengzhou, Zhongshan

Local mission sites: Baoshan, Guangzhou, Hebei, Kunming, Lincang, Xi'an