Category: Stories

Medical Equipment Healthcare Group, Inc. (MEDEQUIP), a DTI-PAB Accredited ISO 17020 Inspection Body, recently inked an agreement with Operation Smile Philippines Foundation, Inc. (OSP) to volunteer their engineers and technicians to the latter’s mission sites to ensure the medical devices for oral cleft surgeries are in good working condition. 

OSP has an urgent need for trained biomedical personnel to continuously monitor and calibrate the sensitive surgery equipment throughout the duration of its medical missions, and their proper care after, to ensure the safe conduct of the cleft repair procedures.  

Safe surgery is an advocacy of Operation Smile globally, while patient safety has always been the priority for MEDEQUIP.

MEDEQUIP has been in Healthcare Technology Management since 2005 and has provided its services to private and government facilities throughout the Philippines.

Shown below following the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement are from left: Jose Pepito M. Amores MD, PhD (Chief Technical Officer, MEDEQUIP), Emiliano Romano (Executive Director, Operation Smile Philippines, and Joseph Patrick S. Amores (Chief Executive Officer, MEDEQUIP).

Have you ever made someone smile? Do you remember the look they had when they beamed that nice beautiful and warm smile across their faces? Looks awesome, right? But here is the question, how did it make you feel? 

This is a feeling that Operation Smile Philippine’s (OSP) volunteers know all too well! 

OSP volunteers sacrifice their time and skill to make sure that children born with cleft conditions are able to get life-changing surgery in as little as 45 minutes. With the help of generous donors and partners, the volunteers are always at the receiving end of the new smiles they create inside the operating room.

That is the reason why as the world celebrates World Smile Day, no less than Mr. Emiliano Romano, the Executive Director of OSP went around and visited volunteers and turned the tables on them. Mr. Romano went around 7 cities in one day. He visited Valenzuela, Quezon City, Pasig, Marikina, Taguig, Makati, and Manila just to make the volunteers smile.

He hand-delivered gift packs from Fresh Philippines to show appreciation for all the hard work they have done for OSP.

World Smile Day is really a perfect way to spread smiles all around.

Our very own Dr. Eric Pius Cembrano represented Operation Smile Philippines at the recently concluded Oral Health Conference in VA, USA last September 16-19, 2021.

The goal of the conference was to bring together key Operation Smile global leadership in Oral Health for productive discussions creating an Operation Smile Framework of Practice for Oral Health Services. This included the standardization ng dental services, treatment procedures, and protocols during Operation Smile mission as well as for centers.

In photo are (l-r):

1. Dr. Pedro Santiago – OSI Lead Global Advisor- Puerto rRco/ US
2. Dr. Maria Alejandro Forero- Columbia
3. Dr. Luiz Pimenta PHD – Professor Columbia University & USI Global Advisor
4. Dr. Nancy Rojas- Columbia
5. Dr. Billy Magee Jr. – OSI /US Chief of Research, Innovation and Education
6. Dr. Carmen Kamas-Wieting – Chair OSI Dental Advisory Council / US
7. Ann Campbell – OSI/ US
8. Dr. Sissy Jimenez – US
9. Dr. Ryan Cody- US
10. Dr. Maria Belen Andrade – Nicaragua
11. Dr. Roberto Paz – Bolivia
12. Anna Copperman – OSI US
13. Dr. Christian Martinez- Chile
14. Dr. Eric Pius Cembrano- Philippines 🇵🇭
15. Dr. Vilma Arteaga- Guatemala
16. Dr. Manuel Hinostroza – Peru
17. Dr. Giancarlo Barache- Dominican Republic
    Dr. Teresita Pannaci- Spain (online)
    Midori Hanayama – Speech Pathologist Brazil (online)
    Taylor Ringer – OSI / US (online)

Leading online fashion retailer, ZALORA Philippines has chosen Operation Smile’s comprehensive treatment of children with cleft lip and cleft palate as one of the causes it will support in the Philippines through ZALORA Cares, a donation platform on the web and in various social media.    

Operation Smile Philippines (OSP) joins a select group of only 11 local non-profits that can tap ZALORA Philippines customers to raise funds for their charity work.

Over the past 40 years, OSP has treated more than 30,000 Filipino children and young adults with oral cleft, providing them with free surgery, medical examination, dental treatment, and speech therapy.  

“This is a breakthrough partnership for us,” OSP executive director, Emiliano Romano said, citing the foundation’s new thrust to broaden its donor base by engaging individuals via digital marketing. 

OSP trustee Rizalina Mantaring, past president and CEO Sun Life of Canada Philippines, connected OSP to ZALORA Philippines.  

ZALORA Philippines is the second digital business to tie-up with OSP after PayMaya, a payment gateway. 

“We know there’s a lot of pent-up desire to help among ordinary Filipinos even in these extraordinary times, and our cause is one that is sure to tug at their hearts; it’s just a matter of providing them with the convenient and secure means to do so — and that’s ZALORA Cares,” he added. 

ZALORA Philippines is part of the Singapore-based lifestyle e-retailer, ZALORA group, which has strong presence in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. 

The group launched its community engagement initiative in 2020 to support Covid-19 efforts in the region.  “We’ve decided to expand beyond the initial mission and start giving back to our community in as much ways as we can by diversifying our pool of foundations,” Ms. Jaurigue said.

Operation Smile Philippines Foundation (OSP) is partnering with JCI Manila (JCIM) to undertake a Manila-wide campaign to raise funds for the treatment of indigent Manileno children with cleft lip and cleft palate, and awareness on the causes and ways to prevent cleft births.

Oral cleft severely affects the physical, mental, and psychological development and well-being of the afflicted children.  The disfigurement makes them prone to malnutrition and stunting, impairs their speech and hearing, and opens them to bullying and isolation, which could eventually destroy their self-esteem.   

The Institute of Human Genetics of UP Manila has said in a previous study that two in every 1,000 Filipinos are born every year with this highly debilitating congenital deformity. Manila was found by another study to have the highest incidence of cleft births among the country’s cities and municipalities. 

The two pioneering organizations signed a memorandum of agreement recently with JCI Manila committing to implement an extensive oral cleft education drive online and through traditional mass media channels and raising funds from its members and business and civil society network, and OSP handling the treatment.

OSP operates a cleft center at the Manila City-owned Sta. Ana Hospital that provides comprehensive care to the afflicted covering free medical examination, dental treatment, reconstructive surgery, and speech-language therapy.

It is also running a pilot nutrition feeding and education program in the city for children with oral cleft and their parents in partnership with Caritas Manila and Security Bank Corp.   

OSP is part of the global Operation Smile, Inc. which pioneered organized cleft care in the Philippines in 1982. JCIM, founded in 1947, is the first Jaycees club in the country and one of the most active civic organizations today supporting various humanitarian causes. 

Camp Olivas, San Fernando City, Pampanga – The Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) and Operation Smile Philippines (OSP) inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) recently for the former to locate children with cleft palate and cleft lip and refer them to the latter for free medical evaluation and treatment of those deemed fit for reconstructive surgery.

The agreement will cover all seven provinces of Region III namely, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales.

PRO3 Regional Director, P/BGen. Valeriano T. D Leon, and OSP Executive Director, Emiliano Romano, signed the MOA at Camp Olivas’ Makatao Activity Center.

Oral cleft is one of the most common congenital birth defects in the Philippines, which, if left untreated, expose the afflicted to rejection, bullying and a host of medical and dental conditions.

“We are happy to become an instrument of hope for those children and their families,” P/BGen. De Leon said, adding the agreement with OSP expands police assistance to the region from protecting people against lawless elements to helping indigents access health care.

Operation Smile has been providing free surgery and related cleft care to children with cleft lip and cleft palate since 1982, and has treated more than 35,000 cleft patients all over the Philippines.

“Our agreement with PRO3 will allow us to treat more,” Mr. Romano said, emphasizing that this pioneering project with the PNP will be rolled out to other police regional offices nationwide if the desired results is achieved.

The Manila Student Chapter, the first student chapter under Operation Smile Philippines, have successfully launched their Wear A Smile campaign.

This campaign aims to raise funds and awareness for children with cleft lips and palates by selling smile bands made by The Stairway Foundation – an NGO that advocates for children’s rights and child care. The Smile Bands come in 3 different colors – blue, red, and black. Also, these bands are handmade!

Buying a Smile Band is helping another child smile again, so get your smile bands now and #wearasmile!

To order click, tinyurl.com/ospsmilebands

Do you want to know the basics of cleft lip and palate?

Here is an FAQ on cleft to help you understand it better. This video was produced by Operation Smile Philippines in partnership with Security Bank and MySmile.