60 SURGERIES TO CORRECT CLEFT LIP AND PALATE WILL BE GIVEN AWAY IN THE RIBERA DE CHAPALA

THIS CAMPAIGN IS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE RIBERA MEDICAL CENTER HOSPITAL, THE SMILE NETWORK INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION, AND THE PUERTO VALLARTA AND RIVIERA NAYARIT FOUNDATION

(L) Liaison of the Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit Foundation with the foreign community Salvador Ramírez; director of the Smile Network International foundation in Mexico, Ingrid Ortega; director of the Ribera Medical Center Hospital, Manuel Gómez; Founder and CEO of Smile Networks International, Kim Valentine and Smile Network Operations Manager, Rachel Moier. Photo: Mr. Arturo Ortega.

Sofia Medeles.- For the second time, RMC Ribera Medical Center will carry out the campaign to correct cleft lip and palate, the result of a collaboration between the hospital, the Smile Network International Foundation and the Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit Foundation. This campaign on its first occasion treated 28 patients, and now plans to serve at least 60 this year.

At the press conference held by Ingrid Ortega, director of the Smile Network International Foundation in Mexico, the liaison of the Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit Foundation and with the foreign community, Salvador Ramírez and the director of the Ribera Medical Center hospital, Manuel Gómez, assured that this program will begin operations from April 7 to 11.

“We are honored to have this campaign again. I want to emphasize that it is a free campaign, and invite them to come closer. The review dates will be April 5, 2025, to start the surgical campaign from April 7 to 11, at the facilities,” shared Dr. Manuel.

There will be around 25 doctors, whom they defined as the best in the world, with specialists in plastic surgery, facial and maxillofacial reconstruction. The surgeries, which in Mexico have an approximate cost of between 60 to 70 thousand pesos, while in the United States it amounts to an approximate sum of 30 thousand dollars, are offered free of charge in this campaign, having a wide age range, starting as a

requirement from 5 months or weight of 6 kilos,  from now on. Even adults can be served.

The interventions will be performed at the Ribera Medical Center and after these, a night’s rest in the hospital will be required to receive the necessary care and the patient will be discharged the day after surgery.

Founder and CEO Kim Valentine said that it is important for them that children and their families feel comfortable, since they are often terrified of the experience. “We treat them with dignity, as if they were our own, and our surgeons are experts in cleft lip and palate. The families who come with them to repair their children’s smiles will receive surgeries with the best surgeons in the world.”

On the other hand, he shared that his favorite patient who has benefited from the association was a boy named Sergio, from Guerrero, who when he met him, at eight years old and was treated in the campaign that was carried out in Acapulco, was a nervous child, afraid, who did not make eye contact and kept his gaze on the ground.  and that after coming out of surgery, she saw herself in the mirror and joyfully gained a new confidence. This patient had a son who was born with the same condition and was operated on by the association, having for the first time in its history the first father and son attended.

To request information, requirements, or attend the campaign, you can call 33 3150 0583, or call 442 347 9531. Also, they can be requested at the Ribera Medical Center at the number 376 765 8200 or at the address Libramiento A Chapala #153.

Also, donations and support for patients are accepted, such as lending vehicles for patient transport, bringing food to patients, or shelter for the beneficiaries of the campaign. Donations can be given by calling the numbers provided or by going to the hospital.

The association that executes this campaign, Smile Network International, began in the United States in 2003, having already been in operation for 23 years. They have performed around 4,600 interventions on patients suffering from cleft lip and palate around the world, in places such as Africa, India and America to low-income families.