JCI Jones Chemicals,Inc.Sponsors
H.U.G.S.Guatemala Mission - July,2010

The Help Us Give Smiles Foundation is pleased to announce the successful completion of their first mission to Guatemala made possible by the generous corporate sponsorship of JCI Jones Chemicals, Inc.of Sarasota, Florida. The HUGS Team of Surgeons was headed by Vito C.Quatela, MD of the Quatela Center for Plastic Surgery in Rochester, New York, Mack Cheney, MD and Dr.Tessa Hadlock, MD, both of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, MA.*

The HUGS inaugural mission to Antigua, Guatemala successfully completed 18 major surgical cases. These cases were for the first stage of ear reconstruction for children suffering from microtia, a congenital ear deformity. Each procedure requires one set of surgeons to harvest the rib in order to create a cartilage framework while the other set simultaneously prepares the ear area for the framework to be placed. There were two operating rooms staffed by separate teams of volunteer surgeons, anesthesiologist, and nurses.

Jacquelin, age 8 was one of the children who received a life changing operation from the team. She traveled 14 hours with her mother to reach the mission site in Antigua. Her father works in the fields and they have no insurance or money. When asked how this surgery would help her daughter, Jacqueline’s mother explained,

“It will help her so much. Her friends make fun of her and it makes Jacquelin feel badly about herself. Some kids are mean to her because theyare normal and she is not, although they feel badly when Jacquelin would cry and get upset about it”.

Jacqueline’s dream for the future is to become a nurse or a doctor.

The HUGS team wishes to thank JCI Jones Chemicals and their employees for making this greatly needed mission possible. JCI sees their sponsorship of HUGS as a natural extension of their 80 years of stewardship of children. Every day around the world, children of all ages drink water that is pure and safe, because of JCI water purification chemical products and services.

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