Rotarians tackle cleft palates overseas

WASILLA — Bringing smiles to faces that haven’t had much to smile about has been the focus of a trio of Wasilla Rotary Club members who are helping people living with cleft lips and palates in Third World countries.

The Rotarians joined forces last spring with more than 30 Rotaplast International members to provide free reconstructive cleft-palate operations and treatment for children in the Philippines.

Dr. Kaye Zwiacher of Wasilla went to Bago City, in the heart of the Philippines. For more than two weeks, along with a handful of volunteer surgeons and medical personnel, the local psychiatrist helped more than 70 children who received 120 life-transforming surgical cleft procedures deal with what can be a debilitating facial disfiguration.

This year, Zwiacher hopes to do it again.

Wasilla Rotary Club’s goal this spring is to raise $25,000 to $35,000 to help sponsor half the cost of the club’s 2008 Rotaplast Mission. The funds are for medical supplies and airfare for a group of international cleft specialists and surgeons.

Rotaplast (which stands for Rotary plastic surgery) is a volunteer medical project involving 230 U.S. Rotary Clubs and nearly 1,000 medical team volunteers.

Zwiacher, Rotaplast ambassador to Alaska and Wasilla Noon Club member, said last year’s trip was a huge success and the club’s excited to repeat the effort.

Cleft lips and palates occur at birth as the result of a genetic disposition and/or a mother’s lack of B-complex vitamins in her diet, namely niacin and folic acid, Zwiacher said. Third World countries, such as the Philippines, tend to see slightly more cases in cleft lips and palates due to malnutrition in rural areas.

Zwiacher said about 7 percent of American children are born with cleft palates and lips, but there are many resources available to them and their families. Insurance, Medicaid and service organizations all help, but for places such as the Philippines, it’s a different story.

“Undeveloped countries have no such network of support,” Zwiacher said. “People live almost an entire life with cleft. It is often seen as morally unacceptable and those with cleft problems are often shunned by townspeople. There’s a failure to thrive with that condition. They can’t eat well and it causes other medical problems, so this is a real concern.”

As a psychiatrist, Zwiacher said she feels a sense of normalcy is essential for a child, assisting them through life with less obstacles. Repairing a cleft lip or palate is just one roadblock cleared.

“It’s our hope that they can do something with their lives,” she said of those helped through Rotaplast. “When a child is born with cleft palate, there are so many obstacles. Many kids see their lips closed for the first time and are overwhelmed — the parents even more so. It gives the parents hope their children can have a normal life. There are a lot of tears of joy in the end.”

Zwiacher joined Rotary while working in Wisconsin, taking a friend’s suggestion to do the same when she arrived in the Mat-Su Valley in January 2006. She joined the Wasilla Noon group.

Zwiacher and two other Rotarians traveled on their own dime to the Philippines, including Robbie Lane, the mission’s quartermaster who assisted with medical supplies, and Toni Schmidt, instrument sterilizer. For that mission, Rotarians hosted a dinner and wine tasting at Settler’s Bay Lodge in Wasilla, where the local chef prepared Philippine-style food with assorted wines. More than $20,000 was raised.

Last year, volunteers arrived in Bago City and were welcomed by members of the Bago City Rotary Club, which provided the local group with housing and two to three meals a day.

Lane, a financial planner with Mat-Valley Credit Union, is a former nurse who said he went to help, not because of his medical background, but because he could.

“I was more of a go-fer,” Lane said. “But I loved it.”

Lane said his most memorable moments in the Philippines were of mothers’ reactions after their children’s cleft repairs.

“It was precious to see the look on the moms’ faces,” Lane said. “It was gut-wrenching. Some of these kids have been disfigured for years, which never happens in the states. It brought a tear to my eye to see the moms reunite with their kids. Then when they get to show the kids their faces in the mirror — unbelievable.”

Zwiacher said this year’s Rotaplast mission could take her and a few others to Peru or back to the Philippines, but a destination is still undetermined.

“We look at where the directors see areas of need, compared with what areas have been helped previously,” Zwiacher said. “Then we ask, ‘How much we can contribute?’”

On May 3, the Wasilla Rotary Club will host a fundraiser for that mission. A shooting range event will be held at Grouse Ridge in Wasilla starting at 3 p.m.

Zwiacher hopes the shoot and dinner will attract more people through an active sporting event that benefits a worthy cause.

“We wanted a sporting event with an additional goal to get Alaskans active,” Zwiacher said.

A roasted duck or tenderloin dinner will be served with an auction also planned to raise more funds.

Proceeds from the Grouse Ridge fundraiser will go to the Area Dental Association, Mat-Su Medical Center and the Mat-Su Health Foundation, co-sponsors of the Rotaplast mission.

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com, or 352-2269.