A New Look for Life: A Cleft Palate Surgery Mission to Hermosillo

Wednesday, 11 November 2009 20:26

On Oct. 9, 2009, more than 60 families from all over Sonora, Mexico gathered at Centro Internacional de Medicina (CIMA Hospital), a state-of-the-art hospital in Hermosillo.  They all came with the same hopes, that their children would receive the free surgeries organized by St. Andrew's Children's Clinic in Nogales, Ariz. and offered by Children's Surgery International to repair their cleft lips and cleft palates.  Each family responded to flyers and advertisements.  Together with the help of aid from Mexico, the United States and contributions from many individuals, the families were brought to Hermosillo. The children were given medical evaluations, and those eligible for surgery were admitted to the hospital to await their life-changing procedures that occurred on Oct. 11 and 12, 2009.

These are the stories from that weekend.  Click on the highlighted links to read articles and watch videos.

Read: Free Cleft Palate and Cleft Lip Surgeries For 38 Sonoran Children

The program brought together surgeons, pediatricians, volunteers, social workers, and business people from both the United States and Mexico.  Read an overview of the program, including a description of the people that collaborated to make it all possible.  Written by Curtis Prendergast. Photographs by Aleksa Brown, Kristina Stevens, and Chris Kelly

Slide Show: Evaluation

For the children who traveled to CIMA Hospital in the hopes of getting corrective surgery, one of the first steps is an evaluation by a pediatrician to make sure they are healthy enough to undergo the procedure. Here, Mia from Nogales, Sonora is evaluated.  Photographs by Aleksa Brown

Slide Show: From Evaluation to Surgery
Mia Nicole Felix Jorquera, 1, from Nogales, Sonora was selected for cleft palate surgery at CIMA Hospital as part of the mission sponsored by  St. Andrew's Children's Clinic of Nogales, Ariz. The journey of Mia and her mother began the previous year. The surgery was not possible a year ago, but her mother insisted and found a way back to Hermosillo on Oct. 10, 2009 for Mia's life-changing surgery.  Slide show by Roxana Vasquez

Video: Interview with Dr. Dan Danahey
Dr. Dan Danahey explains the steps of the surgeries the night before the first operations. Video by Chris Kelly

Slideshow: Cleft Lip Corrective Surgery
Jose, a baby boy from Hermosillo, was one of the candidates chosen to have corrective surgery done on his cleft lip. Dr. Robert Wood performs the surgery from start to finish. Photographs by Aleksa Brown

Read: The Surgical Process of Cleft-Lip Repair
Miguel Vasquez, only three months old, receives cleft lip repair surgery, performed by Dr. Dan Danahey.  Read an article that walks through the steps of the surgery.  Written by Kristina Stevens

Video: Interview with Dr. Betty Wu
Watch an interview with Dr. Betty Wu, one of the pediatricians who conducted the pre-surgery evaluations. Video by Chris Kelly

Written by Kristina Stevens, Curtis Prendergast, Roxana Vasquez, Chris Kelly, Aleksa Brown You are reading A New Look for Life: A Cleft Palate Surgery Mission to Hermosillo articles