Creating Smiles, Improving Lives

Austin Smiles Blog

Interning with AS – Global Health Journey

By Nicolas H.

Greetings! My name is Nicolas Hermoza, and I am an incoming sophomore at the University of Texas at Dallas, studying neuroscience with a public health minor whilst on the pre-med track. Prior to beginning this internship, I had the privilege of shadowing Dr. Luis Paredes, a Peruvian pediatric plastic surgeon that participates in missions just like Austin Smiles. That experience planted the seeds of wanting to help children born with a cleft lip or palate, and my future with Austin Smiles was cemented. Being an intern with Austin Smiles has allowed me to see every component of what it takes to run a non-profit that helps people around the world, and the team I worked with showed me how bright the world can be. As someone who wants to pursue an MD/MPH, Austin Smiles has provided the perfect environment for me to learn about global public health.

My main assignment was to prepare for the Honduras medical mission trip. Under the guidance of Alex and David, we packed the many supplies necessary for a medical undertaking of this scale, ranging from medications to scalpels to hundreds of syringes. Here I learned the wide array of professions that are needed for just one surgery, and the intricacies of catering to a pediatric population in various stages of growth. With Ellise I worked on creating care kits for newborns, including specialized bottles, formula, and resources that families can use to take care of their baby born with a cleft lip or palate. Additionally, I translated pre-existing materials and was given the power by Juanita to create resources for local and international volunteers, as well as media to help market Austin Smiles to international social media users. All of my work wouldn’t be possible without Renee, who gave me this opportunity, helped me established goals, and guided me along the way so I could complete them.

As a Spanish-speaker, it thrilled me to be able serve a mostly Spanish-speaking population, and it warmed my heart to see the amount of effort and attention to detail put in to overcome physical and language borders. Ensuring that children and their families receive both sustainable care and a community to support them is vital to helping those children flourish, and Austin Smiles works tirelessly to provide both.

Of course the skills I developed under Austin Smiles will help me in my future, but the biggest thing I got from my internship was the amazing people that I met. Thank you to the entire Austin Smiles staff for supporting me, a special thanks to David for making me aware of so many organizations dedicated to serving our community, and thank you to the rest of the intern team for being so fun. Whoosh!