Nursing students at Thompson Rivers University Williams Lake received some encouraging words Thursday, March 7 from a proud member of the cleft community in Canada.
Michael Williams-Stark, community engagement specialist with Operation Smile, was giving the students a presentation and told them he spent the first three months of his life in hospital where nurses were his family.
“Nurses were my first family,” he told the 37 students who are enrolled in either their licensed practical nursing diploma or bachelor of nursing degree. “I still carry two of the nurses from Vancouver Children’s Hospital in my heart because they were the ones who kept me going.”
He said the students in their future careers will have people grateful for the work they do for the rest of their lives.
Williams-Stark also thanked Bel Hume of Williams Lake and her volunteers, who through the sale of jams and jellies, have paid for 80 cleft palet or cleft lip surgeries for children around the world through Operation Smile.
“Bel’s made Williams Lake a hot hub of Operation Smile,” he said.
Sharing a power point presentation titled A Million Reasons to Smile, he highlighted some of the efforts of Operation Smile, which was founded in 1982.
The Canadian chapter started in 2012 and works in 16 countries right now under the leadership of Dr. Michael Bezubly, a surgeon who volunteers his time.
Included in the presentation were some stories about people who have received the surgery, which costs about $240 per person and is provided for free along with follow-up for life.
An 80-year-old woman living in a jungle village never had it done and after the surgery was done had the courage to leave her village for the first time in her life.
A father pulled his son through the Panama jungle for four days to have the surgery. It turned out the father had needed the surgery and received it as well.
Operation Smile goes into areas, partners with local hospitals or establishes a call centre, and works with the local community.
Part of the model is to train and educate local surgeons, nurses and social workers so the surgeries can be done by local people.
Another girl named Nazifa could not go to school but after she had the surgery was welcome there.
“Today she wants to be a doctor,” Williams-Stark said.
Williams-Stark himself was born in New Westminister at Royal Columbia Hospital.
His mom was advised to put him in a home, but she said she did not want that to happen and wanted him to have surgery.
During those three months in hospital he was fed interveneously through his ankle.
“I remember when I was about four some kids were yelling at me ‘hair lip.’ I went home and asked my mom what that meant and she lifted me up and showed me my reflection in the mirror. There was nothing like Operation Smile at the time.”
Some adults teaching at schools were the worse, he added.
One told him he had been “punished by God.”
Even his parents, hoping to give him self-confidence, told him to just tell people he was “born wrong,” which only added to his shame.
“I will be 69 in April and I still have two best friends from Grade 1 and 2.”
Fortunately, he said, he was born in an era when there was a love for music and comedy and that is where he found his passion.
Eventually he majored in theatre and pursued becoming a voice-over actor for shows such as Super Mario Bros, Rupert Bear and the Noddy Shop, to name a few.
Something was missing though.
That all changed when he and his girlfriend were watching a documentary about facial differences.
“My girlfriend turned to me and said, ‘don’t you think you should be working with children like you?’”
That was the nudge he needed.
Making up some improv games he started running programs at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, to instill confidence in children.
“A lot of children have PTSD from going out into public,” he said, noting two of the children in one of his programs were school valedictorians.
Taking a break from speaking to the students he then encouraged everyone to form a big circle around the classroom.
He then led them through some fun games that are aimed at conquering the fear of public speaking.
One of the games was about trying to be an expert about something the rest of the group suggested, such a lawnmower powered by bananas, shaving squirrles legs or pickleology of the heart.
The students were laughing and enjoying the game.
Another game had two students posing as workers at the complaint department of a store dealing with someone returning an item.
At the beginning of the game, the person returning the item doesn’t know what is he/she is trying to return.
It was also a lot of fun.
During the question and answer period one of the students told Williams-Stark he was a hero.
“No, I’m a trouble-maker,” he retorted. “My whole life I ran away from my differences.”
Another student asked how they can get involved and what a nurse’s role is in Operation Smile.
He gave them the contact information.
One student told him she appreciated his comment about learning to value who you are, followed up by questions about pain management and infection control.
“The families bring the child to the centre and they take care of everything they can,” he said.
Rhonda McCreight, nursing program coordinator, said the timing was perfect because they have been talking about newborns, children and youth who face challenges.
“Your stories inspired the students,” she told him.
READ MORE: Community shows support for TRU Williams Lake at fundraising gala
READ MORE: Operation Smile presentations coming up in Williams Lake March 4-8
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