Our Guayaquil Story
Global Smile Foundation (GSF) volunteers have been involved with humanitarian cleft programs in Ecuador for nearly 4 decades and we are now the largest provider of comprehensive cleft care in Ecuador. Throughout this time, we have maintained relationships with our patients and their families, many of whom have grown up to volunteer with us and one has even joined our staff as a full-time employee.
GSF provides a full range of integrated and interdisciplinary cleft care at no cost to all patients and their families in collaboration with sister organization, Fundación Global Smile-Ecuador. Established in 2012, Fundación Global Smile-Ecuador manages patient communication and partner relationships to ensure the sustainability of GSF’s humanitarian work.
As GSF and Fundación Global Smile-Ecuador have grown, so has the awareness of our humanitarian cleft care outreach programs. To meet the needs of the patient population, GSF added a second annual outreach medical program in 2016.
We are grateful to the Prefectura del Guayas for their partnership and support that have been critical to the success of our outreach cleft programs and comprehensive cleft care in Ecuador.
Most Recent Trip: March 03-15, 2026
GSF founders and volunteers have been providing cleft care in Guayaquil for nearly 40 years.
Impact
Cleft care provided includes:
- 66 Patient pre-screened
- 161 Patient screenings
- 173 Surgical and Dental procedures for 72 patients
- 286 Psychosocial interventions
- 64 Nutrition & Feeding consults
- 36 Speech and Language sessions
- 12 Speech VPI Scooping
- 130 Dental Procedures for 65 patients
- 65 Oral Health Consult
The GSF & GSF-Ecuador Teams
Our team included:
- 22 Surgeons (3 GSF-Ecuador)
- 12 Anesthesia (1 GSF-Ecuador)
- 1 CRNA
- 9 OR Nurses
- 7 PACU Nurses
- 2 Periop Nurse (1 GSF-Ecuador)
- 2 Pediatricians
- 13 Dentists ( 12 GSF-Ecuador)
- 14 Psychologists (GSF-Ecuador)
- 4 Nutritionists (GSF-Ecuador)
- 5 Speech Pathologist ( 2 GSF-Ecuador)
- 1 IT Coordinator
- 14 Admin Coordinators (8 GSF-Ecuador)
- 3 Photographer (1 GSF-Ecuador)
- 93 GSF-Ecuador Volunteers