Creating Smiles,
Improving Lives
Austin Smiles Blog
View from the Other Side
From the young patients' perspective, the experience must be a bit frightening, with lots of strangers speaking in a foreign language crowding around to look in their mouth! Throughout the day in spite of crowded conditions and long waits, the patients and families...
Method in the Madness
To the uninitiated the scene might look like sheer chaos. But Dr.Cullington has given detailed instructions for sorting patients by age and type of surgery to facilitate scheduling. Kendyl was there to keep it all running in the right direction and to give the...
The process
by Anne Woodson Patients were screened by the surgeons first. Say 'ahhhh.' Then on to be cleared by an anesthesiologist and, if needed, the dentist and speech pathologist Speech pathologist Jissel Anaya was busy screening cleft palate patients for possible pharyngal...
Sunday begins
Sunday, February 9th was setup and screen day. Bright and early we set off in two buses. These bus rides seem to be the only time our leaders can corral us for instructions. Half the team went to the hospital to set up equipment and after only one brief stop...
Ready to go
By Susie Woodson Austin Smiles is about to go on the road again. Today team members are gathering in Veracruz for the start of AS’s 79th mission outside the U.S. We’ll have four plastic surgeons but the entire crew amounts to almost 50 people to fill 10 different...
Team Veracruz 2014 – Pre-trip
by Anne Woodson In a little more than 24 hours (much less for you early birders) we will be landing in Veracruz, Mexico for the first Austin Smiles trip of 2014. We will be tracking down our luggage, meeting new people or trying to remembertheir names, and some of us...
Mission Accomplished
by John Paschal In the evening dimness of room 6, nurse Pearl Falkenberg leaned across the silver rail of the small crib and, with a handheld fan, cooled the baby and his mom, who stood beside the nurse at the edge of the baby bed. Just below the two women,...
The Team
Pictured: (nearly) the entire Austin Smiles team Not pictured: volunteer photographer Kris Kennedy Photo by (you guessed it!) Kris Kennedy
A Well-Deserved Break
Leilani Briseno didn't get injured, but after working as a scrub tech while also serving as Medical Missions Director, she did get tired enough to take a break in a wheelchair. Photo by Kris Kennedy
Sister Act
From pre-op care to post-op care, nurses (and sisters) Carrie Bailey (right) and Pearl Falkenberg tended to dozens of patients and their families during the weeklong mission. Photo by Kris Kennedy
Esteban Smiles, Por Supuesto
Speaking English without even a trace of an accent, Guatemalan volunteer Esteban Flores taught several Austin Smiles volunteers that the word "indeed" translates as "por supuesto." Here, Esteban, who plans to attend Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., next year,...
Austin Smiles, Indeed
After ushering 62 patients through successful post-op recoveries, nurses Mary Kay Lauden (left) and Cindy Thomas had reason to smile. Photo by Kris Kennedy
1 in 700 children are born with a cleft lip or palate
$250 covers the cost of one life-changing surgery
150 volunteers annually will change a child’s life forever
Medical Mission Trips
Austin Smiles goes on 2-3 medical mission trips annually
Our Local Services
Our local program support for children born with Cleft Lip and Palate in Texas
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