This year was the second year that the FACES team has worked at Belen Hospital, a regional center in Lambayeque. The team work between local staff and the FACES team was excellent and a learning experience for all. Once again the Lambayeque Lions Club proved to be an incredible help on the mission: the group help transport, feed and house patients during the week.
Overall, the entire trip went smoothly and everyone had a great time thanks to the coordinating efforts in Portland and Peru over the past year. FACES thanks the entire team involved in this incredible experience and looks forward to another great trip next year.
The FACES 2012 International Surgical Cleft Team recently returned to the US from their 10-day trip to Lambayeque, Peru. The trip was incredibly successful and productive - the team operated on a total of 31 patients, conducted a number of speech consultations and evaluations, worked alongside local staff from Belen Hospital and built valuable local partners for the future.
The team operated on a number of difficult cases, but all surgeries were completed successfully and almost all patients were enrolled for follow-up care through the FACES speech therapy program via Internet connection.
The process of getting a child through the FACES screening clinics, pre-op visits, surgery, post-op healing and speech therapy is long and takes a great deal of effort from both the FACES team and the patient's family. On our January 2012 surgical trip we met dozens of families who would do anything to help their child receive this life changing surgery. Fradin, a corn, rice and lemon farmer from Piura, Peru, would do anything to make a better life for his son Adin.
For the two hours that Yovana's daughter Chalon was in the FACES operating room, she sat in the waiting area nervously, waiting for any news of her child's health. Chalon received cleft lip surgery from the FACES team.
FACES and OHSU Donate CO2 Monitor to Belen Hospital in Peru
During the Janaury 2012 Surgical Trip to Lambayeque, Peru, FACES Foundation donated a CO2 montior to Belen Hospital. The donation of the monitor came jointly from the FACES team and from the OHSU Department of Perioperative Medicine.
Director of Belen Hospital, Dr. Alejandro Chira, expressed his greatest thanks and appreciation for the donation.
Meet the 2012 Surgical Team
The FACES 2012 Surgical Team returned from a 10-day surgical trip to Lambayeque, Peru, on January 30th. The team of 23 members was made up of talented surgeons, speech therapists, nurses, scrub technicians interpreters and support staff.
Most members of the January 2012 Surgical Team come from the Portland, OR, area and one member joined the team from Nashville, TN. .
Comprehensive Care: The Importance of Speech Therapy
FACES Foundation focuses on providing the highest quality, comprehensive care for indigent cleft lip and palate patients in Peru. After the surgeries are completed, we enroll a number of our patients in our unique speech therapy program via Internet connectivity. Speech therapy post-surgery is an essential piece of comprehensive cleft care. We spoke with FACES speech therapists Lance Tsugawa and Jennifer Craig about their work.
FACES' surgeons screen 50+ patients in Lambayeque and the Amazonas region
Three members of FACES Foundation recently traveled to northern Peru to conduct pre-operative screening activities in preparation for the upcoming January 2012 surgical trip. Dr. Thomas Albert and Dr. Jerome List identified 35 surgical candidates who will recieve surgeries and treatment from the FACES team next month.
The doctors conducted three screening clinics during their stay in Peru, in Lambayeque, Olmos and rural San Antonio.
Partnerships: FACES Builds Local Sustainability by Strengthening Partners in Lambayeque, Peru
On the recent pre-surgical trip to Peru, the FACES team was hard at work building local community partnerships, essential to creating local sustainability. As in the past, FACES worked with the local Lions Club, who have become a continuing invested partner in the FACES surgical and speech campaigns. The Lambayeque Lions Club help find, feed and care for FACES patients. Additionally, the FACES team met with officials at the Belen Hospital, where the team performs the surgeries, to discuss long-term partnerships.
FACES Visits Clean Water Project in San Antonio, Peru
FACES, along with partners Cafe Femenino and Green Empowerment, helped bring a clean water system to the village of San Antonio, Amazonas, Peru. Thanks to the joint efforts of these groups, along with the dedicated work of San Antonio community members, the village of 500 people now has clean, potable water in every home.
During the recent November/December pre-surgical trip to Peru, FACES representatives made a trip to San Antonio to check out the completed water project. Additionally, Dr. Albert screened patients in San Antonio, several of whom will receive surgeries on the January 2012 surgical trip.
FACES' innovative model uses Internet connectivity to provide speech therapy to medically isolated patients in northern Peru.
You may have heard that FACES utilizes Internet connectivity in innovative ways in providing the highest quality patient care to indigent, medically isolated populations... But, how exactly does it work? At right, you can see the FACES method in action. In this video the late Dr. Robert Blakeley coaches FACES patient Milagros on how to clearly and effectively make the proper sounds of speech. Speech therapy is an essential component of comprehensive cleft care. After surgery patients like Milagros need this therapy to be able to clearly communicate and be understood, two aspects of being able to function fully in society after cleft lip and palate surgery. Due to geographic isolation and financial restrictions, many of our patients have no access to highly-trained speech therapists in Peru. This is why we've developed the FACES Speech Model - because we believe that each and every patient deserves the best, highest quality care, no matter where they live or how much money they have. Milagros was one of the first FACES patients and has since finished with speech program. She will graduate from college with a degree in chemical engineering this winter.
Speech Therapy by Internet Connection.