Guayaquil, Ecuador

Guayaquil is Ecuador's main port and is also the largest city in the country. It has a population of over 3 million people, yet access to medical care if very limited. Roberto Gilbert Hospital is the leading Children’s hospital in Guayaquil. GSF volunteers have been collaborating with the hospital director and staff for 22 years to provide care to underserved patients born with cleft deformities . Our team dedicates one week each year to providing medical and dental healthcare to patients in need.

This was the 24th year of cleft services for some of our volunteers in Guayaquil, Ecuador and the 7th mission at the Roberto Gilbert Children's Hospital. Pre-screening took place on February 5, 2011. On March 19, GSF performed the full screening including surgical, anesthesia, pediatric, speech therapy and psychosocial assessments of pre-selected patients.

Mission Statistics

(From GSF's Most Recent Mission — March 18 - 27 2011)

• 165 patients screened
• 46 corrective surgical procedures were performed including:
  • 10 primary cleft lips
  • 9 primary cleft palates
  • 27 revisions and nasal procedures
• 48 speech therapy sessions
• 42 psychosocial consultations
• In addition, 200 dental procedures were performed