Bringing Smiles to the World

Park Ridge Rotarians were pleased to welcome Dorothy Ferreira to their meeting at Domani Thursday night to hear her speak about Alliance for Smiles. By profession, Dorothy is a dental hygienist in the Pascack Valley but one of her great passions became obvious as she talked about her volunteer work with AfS.

In October, Dorothy will be leaving on her 10th mission trip for AfS. In describing her experiences with AfS, she stated that the group was founded in 2004 by 5 members of the Rotary Club of San Francisco who had previously been involved with other cleft lip and palate organizations. Their mission: to repair children’s broken smiles by providing free comprehensive treatment of deformities in under-served areas of the world.

Missions tend to last about 2 weeks and involve about 20 volunteers. Corrective surgery is the main priority, but not the only one. Also high on the priority list is the creation of Treatment Centers where education about nutrition and general dental care can occur.

Observing the many pictures displayed by Dorothy in her presentation, one could not help but be moved by the dramatic changes in appearance that had been brought about. AfS has obviously changed lives. Before surgery, these children would have been social outcasts, unable to attend school or lead a normal life. As a result of the work of AfS volunteers, they now had been given hope.

Since its creation in 2004, AfS has conducted 51 missions including several in which Park Ridge Past President Linda Jones was a participant. Overall 4332 patients have been treated and 5343 surgeries performed. In October Dorothy will be travelling to Myanmar with another AfS team. May it too prove to be a great success. To learn more about the organization and the tremendous work that they do, visit www.allianceforsmiles.org