Docs Provides “Day of Smiles” With Donated Surgeries

BCH and its staff have been donating a day of corrective surgeries to families who can't afford it since 1999

Growing up is hard enough. Doing it with congenital facial deformities, scars, or burns can be downright heartbreaking.

For 13 children, that will begin to change after a Saturday at Baptist Children's Hospital in Kendall. Doctors, nurses, and operating room staff volunteered their time for the 12th annual "Day of Smiles," providing free corrective cosmetic surgery on children and teens who otherwise wouldn't receive it.

"We just love this stuff. It's fun,'' Dr. Joel Levin, chief of plastic surgery at BCH, told the Miami Herald. "At the end of the day, we have a beautiful little child to give back to their parents. The surgery is life-changing. You get immediate gratification."

Saturday's fixes, some of which can cost upwards of $25,000, included a cleft palate, scar tissue removal, and skin grafts for severe burns.

"In one or two hours, you can change someone's life, their overall happiness,'' added Lucy's surgeon, Dr. Jhonny Salomon. He lent his expertise to little Lucy Long of Hialeah, a kindergartner who received a lot of unwanted attention for a wide scar she carried on her forehead after being injured in car accident.

"Financially, we were thinking there was no way we would be able to do this,'' said Lucy's father, Skip, who has been unemployed for a year. "But when this came along, she said to me, 'Daddy, no one else will look at the scar.'"

The program, which started in 1999, has treated 97 other patients so far. Nursing manager Maria Diego says giving up a day off is well worth the sacrifice: "It's the one day I don't mind waking up at five in the morning."

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