GEORGE NEWS - The lives of 10 children from George and the surrounding areas are about to change as they receive new smiles, or take another step closer to realising their dreams.
Next week, as part of the George Smile Week sponsored by GDS Technologies, these surgeries will take place from 30 November to 2 December 2015 at the George Regional Hospital.
This is the second George Smile Week to be hosted at the hospital, and will see all 10 children – ranging from just six months old to 16 years old – receiving reconstructive surgery for cleft lip and cleft palate facial deformities, just in time for Christmas.
The children include babies Zenelean (6 months: cleft lip repair), Marquin (6 months: cleft palate repair), and Skylar (14 months: syndactyly release); kiddies Chanica (4 years: hard palate fistula closure with buccal flap), and Kelly (8 years: multiple z-plasties and scar needling); and teens Breyton (14 years: cleft palate repair) and Lesley (16 years: cleft lip revision and fat grafting).
The surgeries are being made possible with the support of Johannesburg-based GDS Technologies, a leading telecommunication consultancy.
“On behalf of the team at George Hospital, I would like to thank all of the staff at Smile Foundation, their sponsor GDS Technologies, as well as the clinicians from Red Cross War Memorial Childrens’ Hospital who have worked hard to plan for this Smile week to happen.
The first campaign at George Hospital, held last year was a tremendous success and generated a wonderful atmosphere in the hospital. Everyone worked very hard but also enjoyed themselves, and it was a privilege to work in a partnership for such a worthy cause. I trust this year’s Smile Week will be as equally successful.” Says Michael Vonk, CEO of George Hospital.
Neeren Ramharakh, CEO of GDS Technologies says “We would like to thank Smile Foundation for granting us the opportunity to support such a life-changing project that benefits children and their families. To be able to invest in a child’s future by enabling them to develop a positive self-image is a humbling experience. Maxwell Matz said that ‘self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment’.
We believe that supporting children to eventually develop a healthy, positive regard for themselves will lead to the development of confident individuals who can do far more than they ever thought possible. We are thankful that we are a part of a venture that will open doors of endless opportunities for the future generation.”
Moira Gerszt, Operations Executive Director at Smile Foundation, says she is delighted to once again, be in George and to support UCT’s Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as its surgeons perform these vital children’s surgeries.
“We appreciate the value that we can add to the George Regional Hospital, to the surgeons working here and to the communities in this region. Through the Smile surgeries that took place here last December, a doctor working in this hospital was afforded the opportunity to become a registrar at UCT and follow his dream of becoming a plastic surgeon in the future.
Our vision is to bring together professionals to operate and support any child in South Africa who needs reconstructive surgery. We thank the George Regional Hospital CEO, Mr. Michael Vonk, and his administrative team for their support and belief in including our NGO in this hospital’s programme. We hope to continue this relationship to further support communities in the Western Cape,” she says.
Currently one in 750 South African children is born with a facial anomaly.
Smile Foundation has been partnering with Academic Hospitals in South Africa for more than 15 years to assist previously disadvantaged children with facial anomalies, alleviating backlogs in the hospitals, encouraging skills transfer and offering psychological support before, during and after surgery as well as supporting the hospital infrastructure.
The success of the Smile Week model has been widespread. To date more than 1600 children have benefited from surgeries around the country through partnerships with funders and state academic hospitals.
Read more in next week's George Herald, and online.
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