“Anyone who needs surgery around the world will be able to do it and get it and survive from it. And we’re making significant impacts by delivering cleft surgery care and by educating and training more and more people each week. The numbers just increase and we’re about to… launch something very special as this podcast is being aired, where we’re going to really build and strengthen one hundred district hospitals around the world.” – Mark Climie-Elliott
This episode’s guest is the CEO and Chief Smile Officer of Operation Smile Canada Foundation. Operation Smile is one of the world’s largest volunteer-delivered global medical charities, serving children born with cleft conditions in low and middle-income countries. Prior to joining Operation Smile, he spent more than forty years serving in a variety of leadership roles in the non-profit sector, children’s rehabilitation, and international hospital start-ups in the Middle East.
His name is Mark Climie-Elliott, and you’ll want to hear where this discussion will take us. From helping children make sound to his philosophy on the importance of sound and why it matters so much to the kids his Foundation helps, there’s a lot to cover. But I was extremely honored to help get the word out about this very worthy charity, and I hope, after you’ve listened to how passionate Mark is about this cause, that you’ll check them out too.
This conversation is being released during Podcasthon, so thank you to Jeremie and all the wonderful staff there putting this initiative together. And if you’d like to learn more about Podcasthon, and maybe participate in it next year, be sure to check out podcasthon.org.
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(0:00:00) – Sound, Surgery, and Changing Lives
Our conversation begins with Mark’s early memories of sound, an experience that may have been as memorable for his neighbors. “The first time sound really got into me,” he recalls, “was when I found the pots and pans underneath the counter and I found the wooden spoons. Oh and let me say, sound resonated not just from our home but right through the neighborhood.” We discuss how Operation Smile began back in 1982, and just how serious, and even life-threatening, the need for cleft-palate treatment options in the developing world has become. “It was then that both Dr. Magee and Kathy realized that there are so many people around the world,” he explains, “that don’t have the benefit when they get sick and need surgery to actually be able to access it. It’s just not there.”
(0:11:24) – Surgical Program and Patient Criteria
We talk more about what causes a cleft lip and the enormous impact it can have on children’s speech, health, and nutrition. “Cleft lip and palate are some of the world’s highest birth anomalies,” he tells us, “they can happen, we say one in every three minutes. A child is born with either a cleft lip, a cleft palate, or both, or one in every 700 to 1,000 live births.” He shares some of the challenges of treatment through multiple surgeries and Therapy that can last for years, and Operation Smile’s plans to open a hundred new hospitals and treat a million new patients by 2030. “In many parts of the world you can get cleft surgeries completed,” he says, “and it could cost as low as $100 in a local clinic. But if you’re a family that’s living off of $10 a week and you don’t have any savings, then that’s impossible.”
(0:23:08) – Nutritional Support for Surgery Success
As the first half of our discussion comes to a close, Mark talks about how AI has helped streamline the diagnostic process, and how the organization works to not only provide surgery but also make sure kids are healthy enough to make a full recovery. “It can cause choking, it can cause eating problems,” he explains, “it takes time for that nutrition and that health to get restored.” He tells us about Operation Smile’s work with Daniela, a young patient who, after weeks of preparation, just recently had surgery to repair her cleft palate. “She was able to get her surgery this past fall,” he says, “and it was really thanks to our nutritional team down in the Dominican Republic that helped her.”
Episode Summary
Tune in for next week’s episode as we talk more about how Mark’s work with Operation Smile began, the impact of bullying on the children he helps and how Operation Smile’s anti-bullying and awareness programs are working to overcome it, and the pivotal role sound plays in their recovery.
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