CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft-focused organization, continues to extend the reach of comprehensive cleft care (CCC) in the country with the opening of its latest CCC center at the San Fernandino Hospital in this city.
As Smile Train marks its 25th anniversary this year, the launch of this latest CCC center in the Philippines underscores the organization’s unwavering commitment to supporting safe and quality cleft care for children and people with clefts here and around the world. Smile Train’s ongoing success in continuously evolving the local response to cleft is also reflected in its ever-expanding partnership network of hospitals, doctors, and volunteers – with the San Fernandino Hospital a welcome and valued addition.
“San Fernandino Hospital has been helping Smile Train deliver essential treatment and care to people with cleft in the northern provinces of the Philippines over a decade,” said Felix Grimares, Jr., Smile Train’s Program Director for the Philippines. “Our achieving more than 80,000 supported cleft surgeries milestone would not have been possible without the valuable partnership of institutions such as San Fernandino Hospital, and the opening of this new CCC center signals our unified and renewed commitment toward reinforcing the growing comprehensive cleft care system in the country.”
Extending Access and Enriching Cleft Care Resources in Pampanga
Through the collective efforts of Smile Train and its partners, indigent communities in Pampanga have access to 100% free cleft surgeries including pre- and post-operative care. Services such as orthodontic and dental treatment along with speech therapy following cleft surgery are just some of the essential treatments Pampangueños and families from nearby provinces will have access to all year at no cost.
“The San Fernandino CCC center aims to support Smile Train’s overall mission of ensuring the long-term, successful rehabilitation of children affected with clefts, servicing the Northern Luzon region. This new center helps us save and change more lives the best way we know how–through smiles,” said Grimares.
In 2023, Smile Train celebrated the one-year anniversary of its Cebu CCC center and launched its Marikina CCC center in partnership with Marikina St. Vincent Hospital. Additionally, it launched its very first Cleft Leadership Center (CLC) with Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation Philippines, Inc. (NCFPI) in Manila, leading the standard of multidisciplinary cleft care in the country.
To date, Smile Train operates seven CCC centers through partner hospitals across the country–San Fernandino Hospital in Pampanga, the Philippine Band of Mercy, Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation of the Philippines, Craniofacial Foundation of the Philippines, Marikina St. Vincent General Hospital, Mabuhay Deseret Foundation in ARC Hospital in Cebu, Tebow CURE Hospital in Davao.
For more information about Smile Train’s global efforts and to donate, please visit smiletrain.org. To learn more about Smile Train’s local programs in the Philippines, please visit smiletrain.ph, follow Smile Train Philippines on Twitter and Instagram @SmileTrainPh, and like us on Facebook at @SmileTrainPhilippines.
