#untilweheal(how I became a volunteer with operation smile)
I have always been proud of myself having seen this dream come true, Since infancy I have always been passionate about helping people giving back to the community,to serve mankind is to serve God.
It was a difficult task initially because I was kept in a dilemma about which way to go to realise this ,After several deliberations and a few consultations I made up my mind to be trained as a nurse,from that time I realised I made the best decision of my life.
The fulfilment of my dream was when I was registered and inducted to practice and I pledged to" hold in confidence all personal information entrusted to me and to keep my knowledge and skill at the professional level and to give the highest standard of nursing care to my patient"
I have always been defensive to the vulnerable and the innocent in the community and fortunately for me started as new nurse in a paediatric unit(childrens ward),I believe kids are the most vulnerable and innocent creature.
I fell in love with working with kids and realised they are really gifts from God.
Whiles I was working at paediatric ward, an incident happend which motivated me to do more, A child with cleft lip and palate born by teenage mother who was admitted to the ward with severe malnutrition died.
the mother had neglected the child because she says the child is cursed,the grandmother wanted the child discharged against medical advise because she had neglected her job for a while and couldnt cope with financial burden.
infact I was soo emotional about the incident, I had to do a little research about how I can help kids with similar situation,thats when I came across operation smile
Cleft lip and cleft palate, also known as orofacial cleft, is a group of conditions that includes cleft lip (CL), cleft palate (CP), and both together (CLP). A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose.The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate is when the roof of the mouth contains an opening into the nose.These disorders can result in feeding problems, speech problems, hearing problems, and frequent ear infections.Less than half the time the condition is associated with other disorders.
Operation Smile is a nonprofit medical service organization founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee, Jr. and his wife Kathy Magee. It is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
In addition to providing cleft lip and palate repair surgeries to children worldwide, Operation Smile works as a non-governmental organization to reduce the occurrence of cleft lips and palates worldwide; develops ambassadorships to raise awareness of cleft issues; sponsors a world care program for international cases requiring special care; organizes chapters and foundations worldwide to assist countries in reaching self-sufficiency with cleft surgeries; hosts a U.S. care network to assist families in the U.S. with cleft issues; develops and administers worldwide education programs related to cleft issues; and organizes student leadership programs.
As of March 2013, according to its own accounting, Operation Smile had provided more than 3.5 million comprehensive patient evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with facial deformities
I was asked to fill a form with my certificates and curriculum vitae, infact it took so long after submitting my documents to be credentialed that I almost gave up,
I was surprised with an email ,after about 3months ,that I have been credentialed as a local volunteer pre and post operative nurse,I couldn't hide my joy, at long last my dream of helping a child smile is being fulfilled ,
my first mission was at volta regional hospital(April 2017) where about 155 new smiles were created and my second mision was at koforidua regional hospital (november 2017) where over 140 surgeries were done.looking forward to my third mission in( April 2018) I can't wait.
reference
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleft_lip_and_cleft_palate
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Smile
