Final Thoughts from Beijing - Updated (Friday)

Good Evening Friends of Operation Smile,

Thanks for hanging in there and waiting for this final posting. Seems there was some sort of telphone/internet outage this morning that prevented everyone from getting a good connection. It appears to have been restored!

So, this will be my final post of the Harbin China mission. I hope that you enjoyed following along at home, at work, or from wherever you may be watching this site. Writing this online journal gave me a chance to think a little bit about our surroundings, about the people, and about the mission perhaps a little more than I might have without the discipline to put my thoughts into words. Again, hopefully you found my perspective and thoughts to be worth your time and attention. I am but one member of the team, but I am sure that I have shared some common ideas with you. I enjoyed talking to you through this "blog" in a near real-time fashion, and I hope I have the chance to meet some of you one day in the near future.

Before my first post, I started out with two specific goals in mind. First, I wanted to tell the story of Operation Smile in a very personal way so that friends and family of those participating on the volunteer team would have some insight into just what we have been doing away from home for 2 weeks. I wanted to show some pictures that would complement my words and try to paint for you some of the special moments that happen along the way. Remember all of those OpSmile Moments I kept telling you about.... :)

But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I wanted to give you a window into the work Operation Smile does each and every day all around the world. I wanted you to be able to see with your own eyes and feel the mission with your own emotions, so that you could begin to understand what a special organization Operation Smile is. And finally, I wanted to convince you that there are children around the world that need our help so that they can take these important and new steps forward into the rest of their lives.

Because Operation Smile is at its core - all about changing lives.

I ask that you remember all of my new friends that I introduced you to this week. Xue Lan, the little 12 year-old girl with the cleft lip and palate, is home now after traveling 12 hours by bus. She is home with her aunt, and for the first time in her entire 12 years, this week she was able to kiss her aunt good-night. That ... is an OpSmile moment...

So, my prayer for this week is that our mission was able to touch you deep in your soul, in a way perhaps few things do. My prayer for the weeks and months to come is that Operation Smile can continue to help kids like Xue Lan and all of the children that suffer from facial deformities all over the world.

You can help us make those prayers come true. I ask that you help Operation Smile in any way you can by donating your time, your expertise, and your money. We keep coming back year after year because there are more kids than we can help. Your donations make these missions possible and we need you to join us on our mission. The future of these kids lives is on the line.

You can donate directly to Operation Smile online by clicking this link. If you are interested in donating your time or expertise, you can contact me directly via email and I will put you in touch with the right folks. And if you are local to the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania area, you are invited to attend our New Jersey "Share a Smile" Gala on October 21st to register your donation. Let me know if you are interested in more information. We would love to have you join us...

It has been an honor serving on this medical mission, and an even bigger honor to be able to work side-by-side with our Chinese counterparts. I am also personally honored that you took the time to share our experiences by reading this journal.

On behalf of the the beautiful children of Harbin, our Team China volunteers, and everyone at Operation Smile, thank you.

Now that our mission is over, please help us get to work preparing for the next one so that we can keep creating those OpSmile Moments in the future. Thanks for being a part of this mission and truly Changing Lives... One Smile at a Time.

Peace.

Jeff Gora, Medical Records

(Illigan City, Philippines 1996
Cali, Colombia 1999
Lanzhou, China 2001
Zhongshan, China 2003
Harbin, China 2005)


P.S. Hi to everyone at home - especially Erin and Joseph. I'll be home soon... I love you!

Stories from Post-Op (Tuesday) - Updated with pictures ...

Good morning friends of Operation Smile,

Since I was a bit rushed on my last posting, I wanted to spend some time this morning telling you about our last day of post-op on our medical mission here in Harbin.

As you read my posting, I would like to share with you some pictures of children with their parents today. These are kids like your kids. These are moms and dads like every mom and dad you know. There are no country borders here and no artifical political bias. They have the same fears, and concerns, and hopes for their children as everyone you know does. That is an important lesson of Operation Smile as well. We all come from different places, but we are all very much alike...


Yesterday, the team went to the hospital first thing in the morning for the last official time on our mission. The last day of post-op is like no other on the mission. It is an extremely emotional day for everyone involved. For the children who just had surgery, it represents the day they get to leave the hospital to go home and play with their friends. It is the day that some will look back on in years to come as the first day of the rest of their life.

For the Chinese volunteers, it is the last day they have to spend with the Operation Smile team. After spending 12 hours/day with eachother taking care of patients, there are now only a few hours left to ask questions, and have those special conversations. For many of the volunteers, it is the last day before they return to their regular routine. For some, this is their daily job in the hospital as a nurse or a doctor. For others, this means they go back to the university or medical school after a week off volunteering their time with the Operation Smile team.



As for the OpSmile volunteers, I can only speak for myself. The last day of a mission always brings a flood of emotion to me. It is an extremely joyful and rewarding day to know that since we arrived just 8 days ago, we have literally changed the lives of 129 people. An in many cases, not just their lives, but the lives around them - their parents, family, friends, and people in their villages...

It is also a day that tugs on my heartstrings since I also wonder what will really happen to these kids we just helped over the course of their lives. I believe we have given them a head start in their lives, yet I know they have many other challenges to face as a result of poverty, lack of access to health care, and the like. I am happy to know we helped make that road a bit easier...

It is a day that we have anticipated since arriving in China, yet a day that we all kind of wish would never come. Because although we are tired, and missing our families, and ready to come home, it represents the end of something very good, very special, and completly unique. It also means that this team - which has grown so close in such a short time - will soon become a treasured memory. And from that perspective, the last day of post-op can sometimes feel a bit melancholy. I have heard others describe the end of an OpSmile mission as the end of a wonderful summer camp.

Perhaps that is the best metaphor I can think of to describe the day. It is the day after which, everyone begins thinking about how & when & where they will volunteer for their next mission.















As I have said throughout this week, once Operation Smile gets into your soul, it never leaves.

I have heard Dr. Bill Magee, the co-founder of Operation Smile, speak many times. Each time I that I hear his words, I take away something new as it relates to my life at the time. He often talks about how "the greatest bonds of friendship are forged through the service of others." So, the last day of post-op is also a chance for me to reflect on this notion. Operation Smile missions are about coming together, building bridges across cultures, working as a team for a common goal - all in the name of a child. I have made friends across the world through Operation Smile, and I am thankful for the opportunity to get to work with our Chinese volunteers as well as, the OpSmile team. They are all people for whom I have the utmost respect. I hope that we continue to stay close and connected.















So, as you can see - at least for me - the last day of post-op is an emotional milestone. But for the 3 generations of this Chinese family who all suffered from a cleft lip and palate, it is a milestone that will continue to shape the rest of their lives...

Throughout all of this, there are people hugging, shaking hands, exchanging gifts, and, with the advent of digital cameras, taking more pictures that anyone thought possible!

Then one-by-one, the hospital empties out, and quiet starts to return to the floor. For a fleeting moment, you start to get the sense of what life was like here before we arrived.

The last few boxes begin to be packed, the last few missing medical charts begin to turn up, the last lock clicks on one of the 80 lbs. trunks, and slowly but surely, the mission starts winding down...

This was a very good week.

I am planning one more post after this to share with you some stories from our closing farewell dinner the Chinese are hosting for us, as well as, some final thoughts about this mission, about Operation Smile, and why it is so important that you continue to support us however you can.


For now, let me thank you again for reading, for your time and interest, and as always, for helping us Change Lives ... One Smile at a Time...

All the best.

Jeff

Last Day of Surgery (Monday)...

Good evening everyone. We had a very long day yesterday with 48 children receiving surgery with many happy stories. I hope to share some of these with you later today.

But, as we got to bed late last night and are leaving for the hospital as I type, I will leave you with some pictures from today. These pictures will tell the story in ways that my words cannot do justice.

We are discharging patients this morning for the last time on our Harbin mission.

Hello to everyone at home from the team. I will write more later...

All the best,

Jeff

3rd Day of Surgery - We're more than half-way through... (Sunday)

Good evening again to everyone... Today was a great day on the Harbin mission. 39 children and young adults received life-changing surgery today as we continued to screen even more new children. So far, we have screened 22o patients and provided surgery to more than 9o people. Tomorrow, Monday, will be our busiest day yet this mission. As such, I am going to keep this post a bit shorter. I am sure that I will have a lot to tell you tomorrow.

Let me also pass on a personal message from one of our OR nurses, Annie: "Hi to everyone at Peace Harbor Hospital!"

The surgical week is in full gear now. Our daily routine begins with a 6AM wake-up call, breakfast/team meeting in the hotel, and then on to the hospital with the first cases starting by 8AM. While the OR team begins getting ready for the first patients of the day, the post-op nurses and pediatrican are very busy making rounds and discharging children so that may return home to start a new life.

I have been telling you about a very special little girl name Xue Lan that I have gotten to know a little bit over the past few days. Xue Lan had surgery yesterday to repair both her cleft lip and palate. Like many kids the day after surgery, she was tired this morning and her face was a little sore. When I stopped into her room in post-op this morning, she was sitting up on her bed, all ready to go home. Her face was a bit puffy from the surgery and this will go away over the next days and weeks. I sat down next to her and gave her and her aunt a hug before we took this beautiful picture. In Chinese, she told me "thank you" as I gave her the Operation Smile pin that was on my shirt. As OpSmile moments go, this is at the top.... She has traveled 12 hours by bus to come to Harbin, and now must travel the same distance home again. She is one very brave and very special little girl.

There is always one little person on every one of the five missions that I have been on that touches a very special place in my heart. Xue Lan was that special person to me in Harbin.




Let me also introduce to you Dennis, our biomedical engineer. Dennis is responsible to make sure all of our medical equipment is operational during the mission. He makes sure that all the monitors are working in the OR, and that all the nurses and doctors have what they need. He is also the one person who understands how to convert the Chinese electricity into the 110 v current we use at home. So, Dennis's other job is to make sure that nothing starts to smoke! He is a great person and an extremely important member of the team...






Here's a picture of my medical records partner, Ms. Joyce. She keeps all the records in order and has been another really important member of the team. This picture is with all the great Chinese nursing/medical students that have been helping us all week. Joyce wants everyone in the Texas schools that are reading this from home to know that she says hi...


So, that is my post for tonight. I will leave you with to enjoy some other before & after pictures and scenes from post-op today. Please continue to think of the children of Operation Smile as they start their journeys to their homes to begin their new lives.

Thanks again for following along at home. Mostly, thanks again for helping us to Change Lives ... One Smile at a Time.

More tomorrow.

Jeff

2nd Day of Surgery and some more Screening (Saturday)

Good evening friends of Operation Smile...

Today was our second day of surgery on the mission, and 37 children and young adults received new smiles. Additionally, after the local Chinese newspaper covered the mission, we had 40 new children arrive for screening today. Many of them will be placed on the surgical schedule for tomorrow and Monday. We are expecting a few more to arrive tomorrow as well.

This morning I spent some time in post-op with all the families who were getting ready to be discharged. It's a busy time as you can imagine. Doctors are making rounds, nurses are making sure the children and their families are ready to be discharged, and of course, everyone is taking pictures, waving good-bye and shaking hands.

I had a chance to say good-bye to my first patient friend on the mission. She's a little girl - 8 yrs old that you may remember from my post after the first day of screening. Her picture is the one you see now... Her cleft palate was repaired yesterday and by 8AM this morning, she was doing great and ready to go home. We took this picture just before she was discharged from post-op. She went to get one of the Chinese interpretors and told me, "Thank you." Near tears, I gave her a hug and took a picture of her with an instant camera so she could take it home with her. On the picture, I wrote: "We'll always remember you. Smile."

It's those moments that recharge your soul in ways that few things can in life....

After kids were discharged in post-op, I moved on to the pre-op playroom to see some of my friends who were about to have surgery. The little girls below were having a great time playing with blown-up glove balloons and bubbles.

You can see one of the little ones before surgery and then about 6 hours later after. Still blowing bubbles... It is amazing how quickly the little ones start to feel better.












Yesterday, I told you all about my friend, Xue Lan, the 12-year old girl with an unrepaired cleft lip and palate. Here's one of her and me today before her surgery. I am happy to tell you that she had her surgery today and I had the chance to be with her before, during, and after. She is doing great and I will have a picture to show you tomorrow. Another one of the OpSmile moments that I have been writing about happens shortly after the children wake up in the recovery room. We gave each child a mirror so they can see their new face. When Xue Lan and her aunt looked in the mirror together, there was not a dry eye in the room...




We have another busy day tomorrow and I am looking forward to a quick walk around our hotel tonight to get some fresh air.

Tomorrow, we have another 36 children scheduled for surgery. And we have the chance to send today's patients home to begin a whole new life. It's going to be another wonderfully busy day!

Thanks again for following along at home with us. Feel free to send an email to me c/o the address on the right side of this page and I will pass on the message to the team. Keep thinking about those "OpSmile moments" - they're why we keep coming back year after year....

Here are a few more pictures from today of our Pediatrician, our O/R recovery room nurses, and one of our Anesthesologists.

More tomorrow!

Jeff

First Day of Surgery and Screening (Friday)

Good evening friends of Operation Smile!

Today was another wonderful day on the Harbin medical mission. It was a day filled with emotions. Early this morning, we posted the list of the children who were chosen to receive surgery this week. (As I mentioned in yesterday's posting, we follow specific guidelines set by Operation Smile when selecting the patients who will be candidates for surgery.) The list was written in Chinese and posted on the outside walls of the hospital on large red sheets of parchment. Within minutes of hanging the posters, a hundred people were crowded around the lists to see if their child was selected.

It is a moment that tells the Operation Smile story like no other. There is joy in the faces of those who will receive surgery; and there is profound sadness in eyes of those who will not. For the volunteer team, it marks the beginning of the surgical week; for the families who will not receive surgery, it marks the beginning of their travel home.

It is a moment that happens on each mission, for even though we can help so many people, there are still others that we have to turn away. Some are turned away for medical reasons. Perhaps the child is too young, or suffers from a condition we cannot treat. Others are turned away simply because we do not have the resources to operate on every child who needs our help. As I have written before, it is these kids that keep Operation Smile teams coming back every year.

Because after we leave, these kids will still be here. And they will still need our help. So we leave them with hope and a promise to return again next year.

As I said, this is the quintessential OpSmile moment - and it stays with you forever.


On the 4th floor of the hospital, things were in full gear by 8AM. You may know that on each mission, there is a Child Life Specialist on the team, and in Harbin, this is Marie. Marie spends time with each child before surgery in a special play room that we have set up. Depending on the patient's age, she will play with the kids or talk with them to ease their anxiety before surgery. Many of the items the kids will see in the operating room are in the playroom as well. For example, when kids can place a surgical mask on a teddy bear friend, they learn that the doctors who wear masks are their friends, too.



Another very important role on the mission is filled by our high school students who travel on every mission team. Ben and Talia join us in Harbin and spent the better part of the day in the
playroom with Marie. The Operation Smile Youth Program has always been a foundational part of the organization. Students learn leadership and service to others by leading youth clubs in their high schools. Many student volunteers have gone on to be mission coordinators with Operation Smile, and some have gone into the medical profession themselves. (You can see a picure of Ben and Talia in this posting.)

Three beautiful girls today all had surgery within the same hour - thought you'd enjoy their picture!

Following surgery, the children are brought to our recovery room before being moved into the post-op area. Many kids will spend one night at the hospital, some will spend two.









Before I close tonight, I wanted to share a brief story of a beautiful 12 year old girl that I met today named Xue Lan. Xue was orphaned when her parents died and has been adopted and rasied by her aunt for the last several years. She has an unrepaired cleft lip and palate. When her aunt heard that Operation Smile was coming to Harbin, she made arrangements to travel over 12 hours by bus so that Xue might have a chance to smile. Her picture is below....

While she was waiting to see if the doctors could help her, I sat with her and showed her how to write her name in English and she wrote my name in Chinese. Not all of the kids that Operation Smile helps are infants & toddlers. I always have a soft spot for the older kids who are part of every mission. In one of today's moments of joy, we were able to put her on the surgical schedule for tomorrow morning, and I hope to share her story with you tomorrow evening and in the days to come.



Today, we operated on 14 children. Tomorrow, we have 37 on the schedule. It's going to be a busy day in post-op. :)

Finally, after a post that was not supposed to be this long when I started, I leave you with a few sights and scenes from downtown Harbin.

Thanks for your support. If you are on the fence about whether to make a donation to Operation Smile, I ask you to think of the red posters and the faces of the parents in the crowd. It's that Operation Smile moment that keeps us all coming back. Perhaps you can join us as well.

More tomorrow. Good night all.

Jeff

First Day of Screening (Thursday)

Good evening from Harbin ...! Today was our first day of patient screening and the entire team of volunteers had a wonderful day. The team arrived at the doors of the 4th Affiliated Hospital of the Harbin Medical University just before 7AM, ready to go.

We were greeted by a huge banner in the shape of a rainbow welcoming Operation Smile to the hospital. We continued walking around the corner to the building where screening was taking place. Outside the building, we saw several hundred mothers, fathers, and children already waiting for us to arrive, waiting for a chance to have the team say they could help their child.










The children waiting for us suffered from cleft lip and/or cleft palate facial deformities. For most, this was their first time they had chance of having life-changing corrective surgery. As we would come to learn throughout the day, families traveled to the hospital from locations near and far. Some families spent days traveling over 300 km to Harbin, just to have their child seen by the OpSmile team.

Patients might have a cleft lip, which is a very obvious deformity, or a cleft palate, which is a hole in the roof of the mouth, often not visible by just looking at the child.

The screening process in Operation Smile missions is very well practiced and extremely thorough. As each patient arrives, they spend time registering with our medical records volunteers. They have a medical chart created in which all information is managed throughout the mission. Following the registration session, we take their picture and include this in their chart. Each patient and their family proceed through a series of stations as the screening process continues.


Nurses record vital signs and take height, weight, and other measurements. Our pediatrician examines the child for general health and wellness. They spend time with our anesthesia team to make sure they are candidates for general anesthesia, and they meet with plastic surgeons that evaluate they type of surgical procedure that would be most appropriate. Finally, each child sees our dentist (many children with clefts need dental work as well) and every family has a consult with our speech therapist. The speech consult helps provide families with advice on how to help improve language development, which can be impacted by these deformities.

By 5PM, we had screened approximately 150 patients, including a family of 3 (grandmother, mother, and son) -- all with the same cleft lip deformity. Using a set of priority guidelines developed by Operation Smile, the medical team drafted the surgical schedule for the upcoming week. Surgery will begin tomorrow and continue for the next several days. We will also continue screening tomorrow so we can try to help other families that may find their way to the hospital.

The team came together today like only a team of Operation Smile volunteers can. We all came to know each other very well today as we worked together in our common mission to provide hope to families and new lives to children. It was a very good day, indeed...

Tomorrow, we begin operating on the first group of patients. The surgical week continues through Tuesday. As we enter this new phase of the mission, we ask your continued support for the team and for the patients and their families. On their behalf, thanks again for your support and for following along at home.



More tomorrow,
Jeff (Hi to everyone at home in New Jersey - especially, Jill, Erin & Joseph!)

First Day in Harbin (Wednesday)

Good evening friends of Operation Smile! This afternoon, the team took a short 2-hour flight from Beijing and we arrived in Harbin about 2PM. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a group of volunteers from our in-country organization Operation Smile China Medical Mission Ltd.

After settling in at our hotel, we walked to the hospital where the medical mission will be held. The hospital is a short 10-minute walk through a very bustling and vibrant city. At the hospital, we met up with our Team Leader, Dr. Han Kai, who is a plastic surgeon and a driving force behind Operation Smile China Medical Mission Ltd. We had a chance to tour the hospital including all of the areas that we will be using over the next 10 days for the various parts of the mission.

Starting with the room where we will conduct patient screening tomorrow morning, we walked through the OR, the recovery room, as well as, pre & post-op areas. The hospital staff was incredibly gracious. The facilities are going to be fine as well.

Following the brief tour, we had our first joint team meeting with the Operation Smile team and in-country volunteers.

After a welcome from the chief of the hospital, everyone introduced themselves to the team.

There were several familiar faces and it was great to see some old friends.

For anyone reading who has been on an OpSmile mission in Asia, Katherine Tan says hello!

Each sub-team then met separately to make arrangements for the week: Surgeons, Anesthesia, Nurses, Medical Records, Child Life Therapists, Speech Therapists, and Students.

Tomorrow, we will conduct our first day of patient screening. The team is rested and ready. We are excited to begin the work we came to do. I look forward to sharing pictures and stories with you following our first day of screening tomorrow. It will be from this group of children, that we begin to build our surgical schedule for the following week.

Once again, thanks for following the team along at home, and for your help and support in changing the face of the world ... one smile at a time.

More soon...

Jeff

Mission Coordinators Philip & Ed receive welcome flowers at airport.

Waking in Beijing - 7 hours later...

Good morning everyone. (Actuallay, probably "good evening" to many of you at home, but we'll stick to China time so we stay consistent!) Just a short post this morning as the team wakes up to a beautiful sunrise. We slept pretty well last night and we are getting ready for breakfast and a quick team meeting. Then later this morning, we're back to the airport for a 2-3 hour flight to Harbin.

No pictures yet today, but I will pass on a few messages. Kristin Neumann from Denver says hi to Chris Weatherly White back home. (Hi Chris, remember me too, we were in Zhonghshan together in 2002. Jeff)

We have a special request as well this morning:
"Good morning Lumberton Family! Happy 13th wedding Annversary Allison, and love to Logan and Riley. -- Howard the mission dentist.

We'll be hearing more about Howard our dentist, as well as everyone else on the team and the role they will be playing over the next 2 weeks..

Again, until we meet up in Harbin, Thanks for following our team as we begin to change the face of the world .. one smile at a time.

All the best,

Jeff

Arriving in Beijing!

Good evening friends of Operation Smile! Thanks for tuning into our daily online mission journal for the 2005 Harbin China Mission. I hope this website gives you a small window into the incredible experience that is Operation Smile. Know that your support and generosity is what keeps our teams going back every year. On behalf of all of the children of Operation Smile, thank you for making this mission possible.

After almost 24 hours of travel from literally all over the world, the team arrived safely in Beijing this evening. We are at a local airport hotel tonight happy to be off the airplanes and ready for a shower and a bed! Tomorrow, we leave Beijing for our final destination of Harbin. (For more information on Harbin, check out the links on the right side of this page.)

So far, our team hails from all parts of the United States, Canada, China, Singapore, and Australia. I am sure we will meet up with additional team members when we arrive in Harbin. I would like to personally thank the flight attendants on today's Northwest Airlines Flight from Newark to Minneapolis. Your support and encouragement are very much appreciated. If you are reading this website, then thanks for tuning in and sharing this with your network of friends as well!


I look forward to sharing our stories, pictures and insights with you as the team starts its work in Harbin. Although we are tired, we are ready to do what we came here to do: provide reconstructive surgery to kids with cleft lip and palate facial deformities. It's this work that keeps us coming back year after year.


Again, thanks for your support and for helping to change the face of the world ... one smile at a time.

More tomorrow!

Jeff

Welcome to my journal of Operation Smile's medical mission to China!

Please check back beginning September 5, 2005 for daily updates and pictures from the team. Feel free to leave a comment anytime.

For more information about Operation Smile, visit the links on the right side of this page!