 (Operation Smile) An Operation Smile mission team in Nha Trang, Vietnam, with Cindy McCain in center.
Cindy McCain Joins Operation Smile Medical Mission in Vietnam
By Press Release, Operation Smile
JUNE 27, 2008 On June 19, Operation Smile Board of Directors member Cindy McCain joined Operation Smile’s medical mission in Nha Trang, Vietnam. The volunteer medical team worked at General Hospital of Khanh Hoa Province and provided free physical examinations to 121 children born with facial deformities.
McCain led a tour of the hospital accompanied by Operation Smile Chief Medical Officer Dr. Randy Sherman and Operation Smile Vietnam Medical Director Dr. Lam Hoai Phuong. McCain met patients and families and interacted with Operation Smile volunteers.
Operation Smile’s medical team, made up primarily of volunteers provided by Operation Smile Vietnam and Operation Smile Cambodia, will work with Navy personnel to conduct five days of surgery aboard the United States Navy’s hospital ship USNS Mercy. Operation Smile has joined the USNS Mercy during its summer 2008 humanitarian civic assistance deployment.
McCain said, “When you see a child anywhere, say a child that doesn’t have food or a child with a cleft palate who’s been kept in a back room because the family is embarrassed or whatever it may be, it takes you back to really what’s basic and what’s really important.”
McCain has been involved with Operation Smile since 2001 and this is her fifth Operation Smile medical mission experience. Cindy has a sincere belief in the organization’s work and is a dedicated and active volunteer with a truly personal connection. In 1993, Senator John and Cindy McCain adopted a child born with a cleft palate from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh. Bridget was successfully treated in the U.S., and today is 16 years old.
Operation Smile will be working side-by-side on the USNS Mercy in four countries: Philippines, Vietnam, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. The USNS Mercy mission, Pacific Partnership 2008, will provide humanitarian services to five countries in Southeast Asia. Pacific Partnership 2008 brings together host nation medical personnel, partner nation military medical and construction personnel, and non-governmental organizations to provide medical, dental, construction and other services ashore and afloat.
USNS Mercy will move on to Dili, Timor-Leste, for the next medical mission involving Operation Smile in mid-July.
Click here to read about the medical mission in Cotabato, Philippines: www.operationsmile.org/news
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