Missions
Destination: Hope
Next week, Dr. V will be traveling to Tarclac City, a small city in northern Philippines as part of Destination: Hope , a charitable organization which he helped create and establish. He will be on this mission from January 16-27, 2014, treating children born with congenital deformities, such as cleft lips and palate patients. Destination: Hope was founded in 2009, with the purpose of engaging in at least one medical mission per year to treat birth defects and other deformities among individuals in the developing world. Past missions have included Vietnam and Ecuador, as well as numerous trips to different places within the Philippines.
The organization was founded on the principle that every child deserves to have freedom from the suffering of visible facial birth defects and from other deformities. Although we principally strive to treat cleft lip and palate patients, our teams travel the world to communities in need, to reconstruct other facial deformities, as well as provide corrective surgery for burn victims and other issues (such as ear reconstruction and soft tissue tumors). We believe strongly that deformities prevent community members from participating fully in their own societies and in their own lives. If we can help to alleviate some of that suffering, we consider our missions successful.
Destination: Hope strives to perform 1 to 2 medical missions per year, each lasting approximately one week, in which we perform anywhere between 20 to 60 reconstructive surgical procedures.
If you would like to learn more, please visit Destination: Hope.
