Operation Smile comes back to Bacolod to bring real smiles back to indigent children with cleft lip and palate deformities through free reconstructive surgery as part of the highlights of the 43rd MassKara Festival.
Organized by the H.O.P.E. Volunteers Foundation Inc. in collaboration with the Bacolod Yuhum Foundation, Operation Smile Philippines Foundation Inc. and the Adventist Medical Center – Bacolod, this year’s mission after three years of inaction due to the pandemic brings a different meaning to the “Balik Yuhum” theme of the festival to the children who will soon be beaming with new smiles.
On Friday, the organizers will be screening patients at Robinsons Mall Bacolod on who will be qualified for the scheduled reconstructive surgery mission this November 6-11, at the Adventist Medical Center-Bacolod, targeting about 60-70 patients who will experience the “miracle of smiles,” thus, a reason to smile again (Balik Yuhum).
This screening is in coordination with the City of Bacolod, the Province of Negros of Negros Occidental, Masskara Foundation, Philippine Pediatric Society Negros Occidental, Adventist Medical Center-Bacolod and Robinsons Bacolod.
Edith Villanueva, H.O.P.E Volunteers Foundation Inc. chairperson, said she is “thankful of this collaboration that is so timely and meaningful as we celebrate the MassKara Festival.” This mission will be the beneficiary of the MassKarade Ball on Friday at SMX Convention Center with First Lady Lisa Araneta-Marcos in attendance.
Villanueva said H.O.P.E. began its journey with cleft lip and palate children in 1988 as coordinator of Operation Smile International, a U.S.-based Medical Mission that provides free reconstructive surgery to indigent children and adults born with cleft lip and palate and other facial deformities.
“Today, H.O.P.E. Foundation has become synonymous with Operation Smile in Negros Occidental. After more than 30 years of medical missions and local surgical cases alone at the Our Lady of Mercy Hospital and Adventist Medical Center-Bacolod, H.O.P.E Foundation has assisted more than 3,500 patients,” Villanueva added.
H.O.P.E. Foundation’s Board of Trustees also include Gerard Bes C. Baldevia – president, Gloria A. Melocoton – Internal Affairs vice president, Juan Carlos L. Trebol – External Affairs vice president, Clotilde L. Alcala – secretary, Angel S. Garriel Jr. – treasurer and its board members: Juan Sergio E. Tan, Lorie G. Mabayag, Helen Y. Magadia, Charmie Y. Siao and Emmanuel N. Villanueva.*