To achieve the dream, we must provide the necessary training and resources. OpSmile's educational programs are growing stronger each year. The 1997-98 mission year demonstrated that we are making great strides. Our enthusiastic and dedicated corps of volunteers shared their skills through formal lectures and hands-on training to teach an average of 72 health care professionals during each mission. Even as they carried crying babies to and from the operating room and struggled through language barriers to comfort anxious parents, OpSmile's volunteers logged an average of 5,905 man hours of medical education during each mission throughout the year.
Educational symposiums are crucial, but another aspect of training is just as influential.
When our volunteers go into a hospital, they spend hours upon hours working with their colleagues from the host country. Invariably, medical professionals learn from watching each other's techniques. Cultural differences dissolve as the universal message of caring for children takes hold. We are very proud of the successful education our volunteers have provided this year to date. In February, formal emergency medical training was offered in the Philippines to help build a nationwide 911 system.