Woman
Nurse explains to local
Woman’s Club how their
donations are helping
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
Nurse Kathy Rubin of Freehold Township volunteers for Operation Smile, an organization that brings together medical volunteers from around the world to provide reconstructive surgery to poor children and young adults.
Nurse Kathy Rubin travels thousands of miles to see the smile on the face of a child after surgery for facial deformities. The lives of thousands of children have been transformed thanks to the skills of caring surgeons and nurses like Rubin, who volunteer for Operation Smile, an organization that brings together medical volunteers from around the world to provide reconstructive surgery to poor children and young adults.
Rubin, a Freehold Township resident and a longtime member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) International, spoke to the Freehold Township Woman’s Club about her experiences as a post-op nurse with the charitable organization.
As a nurse who is also a member of the Federation of Women’s Clubs Speakers Bureau, she said, "Operation Smile is one of the federation’s favorite charities."
She told the dozen or so women assembled recently at Grace Lutheran Church on Route 537, Freehold, that she was there to show them where their money and efforts were being spent. She passed out albums full of heart-rending before-and-after photographs and said that during the two weeks that the teams are in a country, they do approximately 150 to 200 operations. But she added, often there are 600 to 800 people needing surgery.
"Some of these children are teenagers, and they’ve waiting years for this kind of surgery," she explained.
Rubin said she had been on two missions and was leaving at the end of the month for her third, in China. The other two missions were both in the Philippines, where she went as a representative of the Federation of Women’s Clubs.
She explained that she became interested in cleft palate deformities because her younger brother was born with the condition. "It was a shock to my family," she said, "but I am grateful that he was born in the United States where he was able to get help from a very young age. He had several surgeries before the first grade, and now you wouldn’t know he had these deformities."
According to Rubin, the family lived in Albany, N.Y., where there was a huge regional cleft palate center. In this area, she said, there is one at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick.
Statistically, facial deformities affect one in 800 births in the United States, but in developing countries, it seems to affect one in 500, she explained. "Operation Smile does research on every mission," she said. "There seems to be a number of factors; one is genetic. In this country we have a more diverse gene pool. Another is a lack of B vitamins in a mother’s body even before she conceives. That’s why the March of Dimes is making a big push for prenatal vitamins.
"Another factor may be environmental," she said.
She spoke about a teenage patient in the Philippines named Theresa, whose blood relatives had the same defects.
"Theresa’s baby brother was picked to have the surgery," Rubin explained, "but the family wanted Theresa to have the surgery instead of her brother, so that she could go to her high school graduation. Of course, we did both children.
"In the Philippines, most children do not have access to the health care that we take for granted. He may never have even seen a doctor; he may never even have known that such an anomaly can be readily fixed, much less be able to afford to have surgery done."
The all-volunteer organization has been around for 20 years and goes on more than one mission a month. Families are not expected to pay anything for the surgery. Besides China and the Philippines, they go to countries like Kenya, Vietnam, Russia and Romania.
"Operation Smile also supports education. We have an education day during each operation where local health professionals can come and learn. Nurses work with nurses, doctors with doctors.
"We go to a mission site for five years in a row. After that, we believe the countries should be able to take care of their own."
Rubin said the language and cultural differences can be very challenging. Translators are needed by each team. The teams are put together in Norfolk, Va., Operation Smile headquarters. A large team consists of 10-12 plastic surgeons, 10-12 anesthesiologists, pre-op and post-op nursing staff, and support staff, which are often women’s club members. "Recor-ding medical records is a grueling position, but very rewarding."
She said that the doctors are highly certified, and there is a rigid screening process. "It’s an international team, which includes a speech therapist," Rubin said. "For the China mission, the orthodontist is someone I know from the Philippines."
Rubin said she has worked with doctors and nurses from all over the world. "We pull together as a team." After all, she said, "children are the same everywhere."
In addition, she explained, two student volunteers go along. They are there to learn, but they also do a lot of work, she said, explaining that an advance team comes in first to open all of the boxes to see what is needed and what is missing.
"Essential things are always there," she explained, "but non-essentials, like the paper padding that goes on the operating tables, can be missing."
She said that the patients are often there before the team even arrives.
Operation Smile was founded by Bill and Kathy Magee, a plastic surgeon and a nurse, of Norfolk, Va., in 1982 after they became aware of the number of children needing treatment in the Philippines. The successful volunteer organization is celebrating its 20th year.
Rubin said that the Woman’s Clubs have been very generous. All she has to do is say that something is needed, and it comes pouring in. For example, she said, there is a warehouse full of smile dolls.
"We don’t need them anymore," she said. "What we do need is hospital gowns and the Operation Smile bags filled with things for children."
She told a story about a girl, who looked to be 10 years old but was probably older, opening her bag and pulling out a mirror in which she examined her post-surgery face.
"That brought tears to my eyes," she recalled. "I was hit with the full realization of exactly why we were there and how important it is to continue to support missions such as this."
Rubin said the work is hard, noting, "I came home from my first mission sick and exhausted, but I asked, when can I go back?"
Rubin, who is a critical care nurse and family nurse practitioner, said that people travel for days to get to the clinic, and there few resources for follow-up care. Each family is given instructions on how to care for the patient, but there is no way of knowing if they are carried out correctly.
"We don’t know what poor is in this country," she said. "It was truly an eye-opener for me."
The nurse/mother/wife/public speaker/student has three daughters. They are all graduating this year: one from college, one from high school, and one from the eighth grade. Her husband, Lou, takes care of the family while she is away. "They support me because they know that what I am doing is important," she said.
Rubin has been a registered nurse for 24 years. She has a master’s degree and is working on her Ph.D. at Rutgers University.
She told the Woman’s Club members that each volunteer makes a $400 donation. After that, everything except dinners is included.
Rubin has been an active member of the federation for 18 years but not in Freehold Township because the club doesn’t meet on a night that she is free to attend. In fact, she told the club members, she had just returned from a federation conference.
The Freehold Township Woman’s Club (FTWC) has been in existence for 33 years. Three of the founding members are still active in the club, including President Joan Guadagnini. The club is a member of the N.J. Federation of Women’s Clubs and the GFWC.
The focus of the FTWC is to promote community, education and knowledge and to have a good time doing it, Guadagnini said.
Besides Operation Smile, the club provides backpacks filled with school supplies for needy students. Members also bring food each month for the Freehold Open Door food pantry, and for the holidays they fill decorated cans with homemade cookies and candy for residents of local boarding homes.
Last year, they received recognition awards for their donations to UNICEF and CARE. They also support the many ongoing state federation projects, including this year’s Special State Project, Canine Companions for Independence. They give cards and gifts during the year to a female resident at the State Vineland home and at Christmas, they collected gifts for a local family.
The club meets monthly at the church, usually on the first Monday at 7:30 p.m. In addition to informative programs like the one on Operation Smile, they have periodic workshops. Their membership is not limited to area residents, and guests are welcome to attend.
For more information about the Freehold Township Woman’s Club, call Joy Polon, membership vice president, at (732) 462-1560.