photos courtesy of Operation Smile
Leaders know that numbers matter: They tell a story, good or bad, and point to opportunity. For Kristie Magee Porcaro, chief strategy officer of Virginia Beach’s Operation Smile, startling statistics supported an idea hatched by her parents – the founders of Operation Smile -- to help children:
- Five billion people worldwide, two-thirds of the world’s population, lack access to surgery.
- In low- and mid-income countries, 90% of residents lack access.
- Six million surgical care providers are needed.
- Of those needed providers, 2.2 million are surgeons.
To lower these numbers (compiled by the Lancet Commission, a research-based, crisis-prevention collective), Porcaro introduced Operation 100 in March 2025. The initiative expands upon Operation Smile’s 43-year track record of coordinating surgeries for children with cleft conditions, a lip and mouth birth defect. The children struggle with feeding, talking and hearing, and are often teased relentlessly. Much of Operation Smile’s care – averaging 15,000 surgeries a year in 37 countries-- has been delivered by medical providers local to those countries. Yet a significant demand remains.
“We want to be one of the organizations,” Porcaro says, “that trains more providers in the low-and middle-income countries.” Porcaro and the leadership staff envision 100 surgical teams at 100 hospitals.
Kristie Magee Porcaro, CSO, Operation Smile
In the first five months of Operation 100, 50 providers completed what Porcaro calls a “training pathway.” The medical and operations teams first identified and assessed 100 district hospitals-considering their academic partnerships, leadership teams, training capacity and clinical capabilities.
Like in real estate, location is paramount.
“We've selected places less than two hours from where our patients live,” Porcaro says, “because anything over that, we hear that our patients have to pool their resources [to travel.]
The organization's biggest investments so far are in the Philippines, Rwanda, Madagascar, Morocco and Peru. She needs another 300 providers – a mix of surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses and biomedical engineers - in those locations to join the 50 already trained.
Addis Ababa
Operation Smile adopted the Lancet Commission’s goal of improving surgery access by 2030, less than five years away. Funding is vital. Fortunately, donations to Operation Smile are stronger than ever, Porcaro reports. Most years, the organization raises approximately $100 million.
It’s not surprising Porcaro is successful selling Operation Smile’s story. She grew up in training: Her mother, Kathy, and her father, Bill, formed Operation Smile when she was six. Patients stayed in their home. Providers did, too. Donors gathered in her backyard. She and her four siblings, all still involved with Operation Smile, see their children – 14 in total – stepping up.
Porcaro’s hope: Fellow Coastal Virginia leaders supporting Operation Smile also make it a family affair, suggesting to their children that they join a local high school Operation Smile club or recommending they attend the annual International Student Leadership Conference. This year’s conference program cover spelled out the benefit of doing so in white letters laid over an illustration of a night sky: “Like the stars that make up a constellation…we make a bigger impact together.”
Kids celebrate in Tsiroanomandidy, Madagascar
Learn more at http://www.operationsmile.org
