Visiting Our Patients With Miss USA And Miss Peru

A Smile Train staff member's reflections on a week of seeing cleft patients' dreams come true

Estephany smiling with Elle Smith and Yely Rivera

In January 2022, Sarah Ingle, Smile Train’s Manager of PR and Social Media, joined Miss USA, Elle Smith, and Miss Peru, Yely Rivera, on a visit to some of our partners and patients in Peru. Here are her takeaways, complete with lots of pictures.

Yely Rivera greets Elle Smith — Miss Peru Yely Rivera greets Miss USA Elle Smith in Lima

The first day, Elle and Yely got to observe a patient before, during, and after cleft surgery at Asociación Civil Mision Caritas Felices (MCF), one of our partners in Lima. They couldn’t believe how quick it was and, on top of that, how immediate the transformation was! Elle was really shocked — she was thinking that the surgery would take four or five hours, but it truly was less than an hour. Then, when she got to see the patient afterwards, she was really, really moved by that.

Elle Smith watching a cleft surgery — Elle Smith watching a Smile Train-sponsored cleft surgery

Miss USA’s Director of Partnerships, Dohn Dye, was especially moved by how the surgeon had such perfect care for the child. He told me, “I watched it. The surgeon made sure everything on the face was symmetrical. They skimped on nothing to make sure that this child looked absolutely his best at the end.”

Elle Smith and Yely Rivera with a mother after her daughter's cleft surgery — Elle and Yely with a patient and their mother right after Smile Train-sponsored cleft surgery

So that got them acquainted with what clefts are, what cleft surgery entails, what comprehensive cleft treatment is, and how Smile Train’s model of empowering local healthcare professionals works. And that was all the first day!

Jenifer smiles with her mother — Smile Train patient Jenifer smiles in her mother's arms

The second and third days, we visited patients’ homes. The first patient we visited was Jenifer. She received her cleft palate surgery, but not her primary cleft lip surgery, which is very unusual because typically patients will receive their cleft lip surgeries first. We found out the reason was due to her being born during COVID, when non-essential surgeries were postponed. Since her cleft palate made it so difficult for her to take in nutrition and gain weight, MCF decided to do her cleft palate surgery at the first opportunity so she could eat and regain her health.

Elle Smith and Yely Rivera with Jenifer, her mother and older sister — Elle and Yely with Jenifer, her mother, and her older sister

Jenifer’s family lives far up in the mountains, about 45 minutes outside of Lima, in an incredibly remote, low-resource area. The team was really shocked by their living situation, but it also gave us a chance to see why telehealth has been so helpful — just for them to get to MCF by a combination of walking and public transit would have taken at least two-and-a-half to three hours. Can you imagine going all that way for an hour of speech therapy then traveling another three hours back?

Yely Rivera, Dianne Erquiaga, and Elle Smith — L to R: Yely; Dianne Erquiaga, Smile Train's Program Director for South America; and Elle

When the family told us this, Dianne Erquiaga, our Program Director for South America, turned to me and said, “Telehealth was a silver lining of COVID. Now we’re able to still treat patients where they are instead of making their parents take work off or leave their other children behind for a whole day for a single appointment.”

Yely Rivera and Elle Smith smiling with Jenifer's family at MCF — L to R: Kathy Sandoval, coordinator at MCF; Dianne Erquiaga; Yely; Jenifer and her mother; and Elle

It was inspiring to see the lengths patients and their families go to get the care that they need.

Yely Rivera and Elle Smith smiling with Jory

Jory, the second patient that we met, lived closer to Lima. He had all of his surgeries at MCF and is now also receiving Smile Train-sponsored speech therapy there, too. He was the sweetest, because he was learning to speak English a little bit and practicing it on us.

Elle Smith plays soccer with Jory — Jory and Elle play soccer outside his house

He loved the camera a lot and really wants to be a professional soccer player. Elle really connected with him and they played soccer together

Yely Rivera hugs Jory — Yely hugs her new friend Jory

It’s funny — because he was a Smile Train patient since before he was born, the only before-surgery picture of him his mom had was his identification card as an infant. Dianne called him the model child because we’ve truly been with him every single step of the way.

Estephany holds a picture of her before cleft surgery — Estephany holds a picture of herself before her Smile Train-sponsored cleft surgery

The third day, we got to visit a patient, Estephany, who is 11. She wants to be a model and a producer when she grows up, so she was so excited to have Yely and Elle there — they made a TikTok together where they crowned her Miss Peru 2030!

Yely Rivera and Elle Smith put a crown on Estephany — Introducing... Miss Peru 2030!

Smile Train is sponsoring speech therapy for her now, but her mom told us that kids at school used to bully her for how her cleft affected her speech. She was self-conscious about her scars, too, until her mom said, “They’re your badge of courage. If anyone asks, just tell them you’re a fighter and these are your battle scars.”

Yely Rivera and Elle Smith strike a pose with Estephany — Estephany strikes a pose with Yely and Elle

I think being with Yely and Elle instilled confidence in her. She was literally jumping up and down around them, so excited, cuddling up with them. This is what any girl her age would want to do, and that’s the point — thanks to Smile Train, now she and all our patients can just be kids. I think that was really moving for the delegates, too.

Yely Rivera and Elle Smith smile with Estephany

By the end of the trip, I can assure you there was not a dry eye in our whole group. This was both Elle and Yely’s first times visiting our programs and my fourth, but you know what? Seeing patients walk with newfound confidence and smile at their futures, experiencing a parent’s joy as they well up with pride at the sight of their child’s new smile… it never gets old.

Elle Smith puts a crown on Estephany — Elle crowns Estephany Miss Peru 2030

And then to think, these patients are just three of the 1.5+ million individuals whose lives Smile Train has touched!

Jenifer and her family smiles and waves with Yely Rivera, Elle Smith and partners — L to R: MCF Coordinator Kathy Sandoval, Miss USA's Director of Partnerships Dohn Dye, Sarah Ingle, Miss USA Elle Smith, Jenifer with her mother and older sister, Miss Peru Yely Rivera, Dianne Erquiaga, Miss USA's Director of Brand and Talent Communications Nancy Schuster

It was an honor help host our ambassadors. Each of us left Peru knowing that Smile Train, in fact, truly is changing the world one smile at a time… including ours.

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