Alliance for Smiles. Our Speaker.

Speaker Steve Mew presented our speaker, Jill Moore, a Rotarian (Tsawwassan) and a dental hygienist with 30 years of experience. Jill had recently returned from a mission sponsored by the Alliance for Smiles. This organization, with early assistance from Rotary, sends oral surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, dental hygienists and others to areas of the world where treatment of cleft lip and cleft palate is not routinely available. The Alliance is currently sponsored by Rotary San Francisco, Rotary San Mateo and by District 7490. Jill's mission was in Shenyang, China, where the need for cleft lip and cleft palate surgery here is extreme. She said they arrived after a 30-hour trip and saw that there were dozens if not hundreds of families waiting for them at the hospital. They began their screening, in spite of their fatigue and even before their equipment was unpacked. Jill's presentation was a passionate relation of the help that was provided by her team to the children of Shenyang. She told of one mother and child who had borrowed money to travel to the hospital, a trip that required 17 hours by bus and two days on the train. They arrived at the hospital with no money at all. She described the joy of the mothers and their children when the surgery was completed and they could see that they would look normal and would be able to lead normal lives. Our appreciation for this inspiring presentation was given by Jim MacKinnon, who presented a donation to Rotary International in Jill's name.