Monday - Screening and Surgery Begins

The day that many of us (volunteers and hopeful patients) had been anxiously awaiting! The screening process started at 8am. When we arrived at the hospital a crowd had already assembled in anticipation. With the help of the local support staff, the process quickly became orderly and efficient.

The patients and their families were lined up outside the facility, the Antique Provincial Hospital, and a number given to each patient. While the patients waited to be screened, the outreach volunteers distributed stuffed animals, coloring books and crayons, and some bling, that is, brightly colored beads.....a favorite with all the people no matter how young or old. Even a friendly game of jacks was played!

In the screening room the patients visited each of the stations for evaluation that included family history, vitals, pediatrics, surgery, photography, dentistry, anesthesia, admissions, scheduling and speech therapy. The room became a cacophony of sounds including 2 languages, giggling, and of course some crying.

A total of 58 patients went through the screening process in about 4 hours. Eight lip and/or cleft palate surgeries were scheduled along with1 tongue tie release for this afternoon. The patients were from 1 1/2 to 20 years old. Surgeries started at 1:30pm with 4 operating tables. Many of the volunteers were happy to see several return patients that had lips repaired in 2006 and were back to have the cleft palates repaired.

Three of the scheduled patients came from Guimaras, one of the many small islands in the Philippines. Robert Garcia, the owner of St. Joseph's School, made it possible for these children to make the trip and have a chance at a new smile. We are also very thankful to Robert for his generosity, he provided one of the vehicles that transported the team from Ilo-Ilo to San Jose upon our arrival on Saturday.