Another year of COVID 19 - What does this mean for Mending Faces' patients?

Despite all of our hopes, the COVID 19 pandemic has continued to impact communities across the globe, yours, ours, and those that Mending Faces aims to serve with life changing medical procedures. While Mending Faces was able to travel to El Salvador for one medical mission, serving 25 patients, we were not able to return to the Philippines in 2021.

We are disappointed to say the least. But we have no intention of giving up. Mending Faces is currently hard at work planning medical missions for 2022.

You might ask why, with all the risks that come from traveling during a global pandemic.

Cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities drastically impact the lives of those who are born with them. Poor communities around the globe do not have access to the surgical procedures that correct the deformities early in life, giving children the best chance for success. Since the pandemic, what access these communities did have through non-profit organizations has been drastically cut off.

How does this affect patients? Delay in treatment can have long term impacts on the health and well being of those affected. Cleft lip and palate patients have a hard time getting proper nutrition, are at risk for infections, and often face poor mental health. Indigent communities often don’t have access to the education that would help people understand what causes facial deformities, instead their views are shaped by superstition that often leads families to isolate and prevent children from attending school. This makes it incredibly difficult for children born with facial deformities to lead full, healthy, lives.

The longer a patient doesn’t receive treatment the longer they face immense hardship. In the Philippines, there have been between 8,000 and 10,000 babies born with cleft deformities since the start of the pandemic. With international travel virtually impossible, these patients did not have access to the surgeries that will provide them with a better future, creating a backlog of those in need.

There are a lot of hurdles to jump to get a medical mission in place right now. We are diligently working with our local partners to plan medical missions while still ensuring the safety of our volunteers. In the Philippines, this includes continued conversations with the Rotary Club of Kalibo and UGAT, so that the moment that there is hospital space available for our patients we are able to return. In El Salvador, it is working with the 7th Day Adventist Church of San Salvador to plan a fall mission.

Additionally, we have partnered FNE International, an organization that supports communities in developing nations to improve housing, health, and education. This partnership will help us assess the viability of adding additional mission sites in 2022. We are incredibly hopeful that this will allow a mission to be planned in Latin America.

Thank you for your ongoing support during this time, it is essential in the mission of providing hope and a brighter future to those burdened with cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities.