Creating Smiles,
Improving Lives

Warm hugs, bright smiles, and a few yawns welcomed the 43rd Austin Smiles’ Team to Austin Bergstrom Airport early this morning. Amid the piles of personal luggage and red supply trunks, Kendyl, Martha & Leilani sorted people, passports and boarding passes through...

The story of Ian's supportive grandmother Special Guest Blogger: Jacquelin Sandoval There are medical miracles that many times we can’t explain…hint, that’s why they are referred to as miracles. Yesterday as I walked out of the operating room, I walked past the dark...

This post is dedicated to the men and women in the nursing profession Special Guest Blogger: Jacquelin Sandoval Day 1 was a busy day for the Austin Smiles team; a total of 12 surgeries were completed during the course of the day. As I sit under the warm Guatemalan sun...

By Special Guest Blogger: Jacquelin Sandoval As the doctors raced between rooms clearing patients for tomorrow’s surgeries, I met a sweet boy named Jonathan. He was a quiet and mild manner 4 year old boy from the rural side of Guatemala. His happiness could simply...

Day 6-7: Puebla 2014 - Mission Complete! One of our RN team members said it best, "Puebla. Fantastic people, long hot OR days, mole galore, really old pyramids, ornate churches, steaming volcanoes, artistic talavera, and some fun nights to name a few highlights. Most...

Day 6: Part A A story about an old man… “We get to go tell this guy that he just won the lottery." Samuel Mitl Lozano is a 75-year-old man from the pueblo of San Sabastian Tepalcatepec in San Pedro, Cholula. He’s been married for 52 years and has five children. Samuel...

Day 5: To give a quick update on our little crayon eater, Jesus was able to make it into surgery yesterday and did great. He'll be heading home today. The team had nine surgeries on the schedule and started extra early to get them all knocked out. Everyone was...

A little story about Brayan... Our very first patient out of surgery was a little 5-year-old boy from Atempan, Puebla named Brayan. He arrived on Sunday for triage with an elderly woman who identified herself as his mother. Brayan loved stickers and quickly won the...

Day 4: It's a beautiful day in Puebla to build some new smiles! The morning started out with triage and follow-up visits to yesterday's six patients who are doing great! We've been able keep them entertained with stickers, coloring books, and by taking "selfies" on a...

What a day! The first team arrived at the hospital around 6:30 AM Monday morning for the first day of surgeries. After some searching we were able to round up the eight patients scheduled for today. The ages range from as young as 6-months up to 5 years. All the...