general statement regarding the covid-19 pandemic |
The COVID-19 pandemic, whose effects first became known in January 2020, is having a broad and negative impact on commerce and financial markets around the world. The extent of the impact of COVID-19 on Smile Trains operational and financial performance will depend on certain developments, including the duration and spread of the outbreak and its impact on Smile Trains donors, treatment partners and vendors, all of which at present, cannot be determined. Accordingly, the extent to which COVID-19 may impact Smile Trains Combined financial position and combined changes in net assets and cash flows is uncertain. FORM 990, PART III, LINE 1 - ORGANIZATION'S MISSION (CONT'D.) Smile Train's mission is to: 1. Ensure access to safe, high-quality Comprehensive Cleft Care through a proven sustainable partnership model. 2. Strengthen local health systems through investment, resources, and building the capacity of local medical professionals. 3. Drive innovation by leveraging technology and research to transform global cleft care. 4. Foster a global cleft community through awareness and education to reduce stigma and ensure acceptance of people with clefts. Smile Train advances a sustainable solution and scalable global health model for cleft treatment, drastically improving childrens lives, including their ability to eat, breathe, speak and, ultimately, thrive. We use the "teach a man to fish" model, focusing on empowering local medical professionals to provide cleft treatment to children in their own communities. We support education and training for a variety of cleft care professionals, who then go on to train others, creating a long-term, sustainable system. As a result of our efficiency and the support of donors and partners around the world, Smile Train has transformed the lives of more than 1.5 million children by giving them the power of a smile. FORM 990, PART III - PROGRAM SERVICE, LINE 4A (CONT'D.) Free medical equipment support - Many of our partners around the world lack access to fully-equipped operating rooms. They lack essential equipment or struggle to work with old and/or inadequate equipment. Smile Train provides financial support to ensure partners have crucial surgical and anesthesia equipment including pulse oximeters, anesthesia machines and high-quality surgical instruments. With this support, all partners are enabled to meet Smile Trains high standards of safety and quality for the patients we serve. Free comprehensive cleft care - Often, children with clefts needs more than just surgery, such as nutrition support, orthodontic care, and speech therapy. We train and empower local providers to offer comprehensive cleft care and provide grants for nutritional counseling and food, speech therapy sessions, orthodontic treatment and much more. Financial aid for patients - Some of our patients do not have the funds they need to get to the hospital or to travel home after surgery. Other families need food and lodging while their child is receiving care. We have special programs that provide small stipends for patients and families in need to ensure they can access cleft care safely and without additional stress or being driven into poverty. These expenses exclude $28,193,087 in donated time and services from doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, organizations, companies, other medical professionals and medical facilities and supplies. FORM 990, PART III - PROGRAM SERVICE, LINE 4B (CONT'D.) For thousands of people all over the world, Smile Train is a resource for information about clefts and access to safe, quality cleft care. Through direct mail, websites, newspapers, radio, TV, public service announcements, documentaries, public relations, social media, etc., we raise public awareness about clefts in many countries around the world, including the United States. FORM 990, PART III - PROGRAM SERVICE, LINE 4C (CONT'D.) Smile Train supports hands-on and workshop-based training opportunities to improve the skill level of cleft care professionals around the globe. Recent initiatives have focused on supporting training programs for nutritionists, speech therapy providers, perioperative nurses, and anesthesiologists, including Smile Train's Safe Nursing Care Saves Lives program in Africa, which has now been scaled and implemented for Smile Train partners around the world. Smile Train is innovative in its approach to provide quality training to medical professionals worldwide. In low- and middle-income countries, surgeons often do not have access to mentorship and training around the latest techniques and updated protocols for cleft surgery. Smile Train has distributed free virtual surgery training materials to 40,000+ medical professionals in 149 countries around the world. Smile Train has also taken this technology to the next level through the launch of the first open-access, web-based, interactive Virtual Surgery Simulator (VSS) and the newly launched mobile Virtual Surgery Simulator, which features unprecedented offline capabilities. These tools supplement hands-on clinical training for surgeons in remote and limited-resource settings. Smile Train has also recently taken on operations of Simulare Medical, a leading developer of hyper-realistic, hands-on surgical simulators that are considered among the top cleft surgery simulators in the world. This innovative tool will provide Smile Train partners and cleft care professionals around the world with greater access to safe, high-quality training, particularly in regions with limited resources. Smile Train has leveraged innovation and technology to change the course of medical education while also improving the lives of babies born with clefts in low- and middle-income countries. |