�t ’ s always nice when ahealth care professional can leave apatient smiling . And it ’ s something Claire �onaghy , anursing and acute care instructor who taught full-time at William Paterson University for 10 years , does often � not �ust as asubstitute school nurse in New Jersey , but in Rwanda , Egypt and other far-�ung locations .
�onaghy is avolunteer coordinator for the global surgical nonprofit �peration Smile . Since 200� , she has �ourneyed abroad on missions to reconstruct cleft palates and repair lips , first as arecovery nurse and , after adozen trips , asateam leader . InMarch 2022 , she participated in �peration Smile ’ s first Champion Program , in which volunteers from the U . S ., Canada , Sweden , Australia and other countries train volunteers in underserved nations to perform plastic surgery and provide anesthesia for their compatriots themselves .
“ My biggest reward isseeing new smiles on the faces of patients , orin the case of babies , the parents ,” says �onaghy .“ Igave amirror to a��-yearold man in Lima , Peru , who had his cleft lip repaired , so he could see himself . We both had tears on our faces . Hewas very pleased with the results .”
Here are �things you should know about Claire �onaghy .
� SHE
�RI�INALLY�H���H� SHE�D �E A�HYSICAL ED�CA�I�N �EACHER
It wasn ’ t until her senior year of high school that �onaghy , whose older sister had gone into nursing , decided
|
to get adiploma in the field . She received abachelor ’ sdegree at Long Island University and amaster ’ satthe University of Texas , and started teaching surgical services . InNew Jersey , where she moved in 1��2 , she was an ad�unct at the Community College of Morris inRandolph , then became certified as an acute care nurse practitioner at Columbia University in Manhattan . Today , she teaches both advanced cardiac life support and pediatric advanced life support at Saint Clare ’ s Health and RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey .
�SHE C�NNEC�ED WI�H ��ERA�I�N S�ILE WHILE L���IN� ��R A S�R�ICAL CHARI�YWHERE SHE C��LD ��L�N�EER �onaghy , who says that most of her background is in post-anesthesia care nursing , saw the �peration Smile website and thought the organization ’ s mission was agreat fit with her abilities . She applied to be credentialed in 2005 and went on her first trip two years later for the organization ’ s 25th anniversary program in �ena , Egypt . “ I was hooked ,” she says . She has served on about two missions per year for �peration Smile since then , she says .
�SHE SAYS �HA��ISSI�NS �Y�ICALLYLAS�A���� �� DAYS Before �peration Smile volunteers arrive at their destinations , their services are advertised to prospective patients in papers , online , and on the radio and What ’ sApp .“ Anyone who wants
|
�������
to come in can come ,” says �onaghy . “ We ’ re not �ust seeing cleft lips and palates . Wegive complete medical evaluations , and people are seen bynurses , surgeons , anesthesiologists , pediatricians , dentists and speech therapists .” If candidates for surgery are too malnourished , they ’ re given nutrition through ready-to-feed meals so they can be well enough for future operations . The workday begins at �a . m . and lasts till �p . m� there ’ sanon-call team ready for any emergencies that occur during the night . Foracouple weeks after �peration Smile leaves acommunity , local volunteers perform post-operative duties .
�SHE �ELL IN L��E WI�H RWANDAWHILE �N A ��L�RI�H� SCH�LARSHI� �onaghy taught at the University of Rwanda ’ s�igali campus during the
|
COURTESY OF OPERATION SMILE |