Creating Smiles,
Improving Lives

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...

Day 2: The team arrived at Hospital General De Cholula this morning to prepare for the weeks surgeries and conduct triage. The hospital is a beautiful brand-new facility that opened in just November of last year. We had a warm welcome from the local medical staff and...

Day 1: Well, the day has finally arrived and we've got 27 Austin Smile-ers headed to Puebla, Mexico! We'll keep you up-to-date along the way sharing the experience of this innagural trip to Puebla. Wish us luck and let us know via facebook...

by Leilani They sat patiently and quietly waited outside with their baby girl, Angelica, as the surgeons, between their surgeries, came out to meet and visit with them. With the odds against them, they figured they had nothing to lose when they heard that Austin...

As we say adios to El Salvador, until the next time, here are a few memories of our week. When things get crazy - sometimes you just have to laugh about it!    Appearances can be deceiving... View from the city with Boquerón Volcano in the background left      Caring...

When Austin Smiles first began their mission trips to El Salvador, there were two men who were instrumental in our success; one was Julio Gonzales (a local businessman) and the other was Dr. Roberto Pineta (a local orthodontist).  Both men wanted to help their fellow...

Ten-month-old Joseph, his mother and his two-week-old sister, traveled with a relative for four hours on a bus to reach the hospital in San Salvador.  There was room in the schedule to add him on, so he was to be operated on that day.  He was animated and happy on...

This is the first Austin Smiles trip for Anesthesiologist Dr. Mary Zavala, but it is not her first trip to El Salvador.  She was born here, named Acsa Merari Zavala Flores. She is from San Miguel region, on the edge of lake Olomega by the volcano.  Her parents went to...