Cleft Lip/Palate Project Rotaplast Committee Members

• Quartermaster                                   
• Medical Records Keeper
• Sterilizer                                           
• Mission "historian" (photographer/bloc)
• Ward Coordinator                            
• Recovery Room Helper
• Patient Transport                              
• Recreation Therapist

• Complete the Rotaplast Mission Interest Form
• Submit a short personal statement addressing: “Why you might be interested in joining a Rotaplast team and what skills you would bring to the team.”
• Review the Rotaplast website: www.rotaplast.org about various positions.

Email the interest form and personal statement to: [email protected]  BY Monday, December 2^nd 2024

CONTRIBUTIONS
Help us fund this mission with club and individual contributions. Any amount is appreciated. Your donation will change children’s lives.

Donations should be made out to:
“Rotary Foundation District 5300”
Please indicate “Cleft Lip Project” on the memo line.

Send donations to:
Rotary International District 5300
10624 S. Eastern Ave. Ste. A-16
Henderson, NV 89052

QUESTIONS
Questions or to schedule a club program, contact (or any member of the committee):
Drexel L. Smith Tele: 951.202.2012  email: [email protected]
District 5300 Cleft Lip Committee
Drexel L. Smith, Chair, [email protected], 951-202-2012

Rotary District 5300 Cleft Lip/Palate Project
ROTAPLAST
Saving Smiles….Changing Lives
     
PROGRAM
Purpose: To provide free reconstructive surgery and ancillary treatments for cleft lips, palates, burn scarring and other deformities.
Where: In developing countries throughout the world.
Who: Volunteer medical professionals and District 5300 Rotarian non-medical volunteers.
ROTAPLAST

District 5300 works with Rotaplast International, Inc., to provide life-changing surgeries to those with cleft lips and/or palates, burn scarring and other deformities.

• Rotaplast was started by Rotarians and the Rotary Club of San Francisco.
• It has been in existence for 30 years.
• Rotaplast International traditionally carries out 8 to 12 two week missions a year and has worked in 26 developing counties.
• It relies on local Rotarians as support and outreach for patients in surrounding communities.
• It recruits highly skilled volunteer medical staff, and most missions utilize Rotarians as non-medical support.
• It is a 501(c)3 non-profit, humanitarian organization and has received a 4 Star Rating from Charity Navigator (the highest and the same as TRF.) It operates with very low overhead and does no advertising.

DISTRICT MISSIONS

A typical mission will be two weeks long and include a full team of 30+ volunteers, 2/3 of which are medical staff. District 5300 has sponsored 9 missions.

• 2011: Retalhuleu, Guatemala
• 2013: Monrovia, Liberia
• 2015: Retalhuleu, Guatemala
• 2017: Lima, Peru
• 2019: Arusha, Tanzania
• 2020: Agra, India
• 2022: Medellin, Colombia
• 2023: Medellin, Colombia
• 2024: Cebu, Philippines

• 626 Patients Treated
• 891 Procedures Carried Out

The 2024 mission to Cebu was supported by eight (8) non-medical Rotary volunteers from across District 5300 :

CLUB INVOLVEMENT

Volunteers: The district reaches out to clubs for non-medical volunteer applicants. These volunteers should be active Rotarians from the district, available for the full two-week mission, travel with the team out of San Francisco and be comfortable traveling/working in a developing country. The non-medical volunteers are responsible for their own travel costs and miscellaneous minor expenses that may include VISA fees, insurance and other direct costs.  Assistance with travel expenses may be provided, please inquire with a committee member.
For our nine past missions the District has provided about 50 non-medical volunteers in various roles.

• Recovery Room Helper
• Recreation Therapist
• Quartermaster
• Interpreter
• Medical Records Keeper
• Ward Coordinator
• Equipment Sterilizer
• Mission Historian
• Patient Transport

Contributions: To support these seven missions, our Rotary clubs and individuals have generously contributed over $400,000. Often, the district co-sponsors a mission with another entity, this year, District 5300 will be the sponsor the Kampala, Uganda 2025 Mission.

In addition to individual and Club donations, because of the Rotary Club of Las Vegas, our Cleft Lip/Palate Program has been the fortunate beneficiary of major gifts from Welles Family Foundation. The District will be forever grateful for the donations as it will allow us to provide mission support on an annual basis going forward.

FUTURE MISSIONS
The Cleft Lip/Palate Committee has recommended, and District Governor (RY24/25) Mike Dreibe has agreed to be the sponsor of the upcoming Rotaplast mission to Kampala, Uganda to be June 21^st to July 6^th, 2025. A two-week mission is planned. In communicating with local Rotarians, there continues to be a significant need related to cleft lip and palate surgeries and burn scars surgical reconstructions.

QUESTIONS and ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Club Presentations: We can arrange for one of our non-medical volunteers from a past mission to give a club presentation about their life-changing experience serving on a Rotaplast mission. Contact one of the committee members to schedule a presentation.

Rotaplast Website: Photo blogs of past missions, job descriptions for non-medical volunteers, and extensive general information is available on Rotaplast’s website: https://rotaplast.org/

District Office Contact Information

Rotary International District 5300
10624 S. Eastern Ave. Ste. A-16
Henderson, NV 89052

702.274.0660

Email: [email protected]