Art Impact for Health: Celebrating 75,000 cleft surgeries in the Philippines

Smile Train executives, mural artist Jesse Camacho, WHO representative Isabelle Wachsmuth, and Smile Train ambassadors CJ Opiaza, Pia Wurtzbach and Angelique Manto, at Smile Train’s Art Imapct for Health held at the Philippine Band of Mercy

31 JULY 2023, QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES — Art has the power to heal and uplift the spirit. As it celebrates supporting more than 75,000 cleft surgeries in the Philippines, Smile Train – the world’s largest cleft-focused organization – is bringing the transformative power of art to the Philippine cleft community through Art Impact for Health.

A global initiative in partnership with the World Health Organization, Art Impact for Health aims to enable healing, communication, and improved psychosocial well-being for all patients. Cleft affected patients face continuing stigma and many are bullied or mistreated because of their condition. As a result, they struggle with negative self-image and low self-esteem. 

Developing sustainable cleft care in the Philippines

Smile Train knows that cleft care is not just surgical care, and patients with cleft often need ongoing speech, orthodontic, nutrition, and psychosocial care to survive and thrive. Beyond surgery, cleft patients need psychosocial care integrated into their cleft treatment. In celebration of the organization’s 75,000 surgery landmark, Smile Train, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Philippine Band of Mercy, held an art workshop today, bringing the cleft community closer together. The event was attended by patients and families affected by cleft, cleft community advocates, representatives of the World Health Organization, and Smile Train partners and ambassadors, including the winner and runners-up of Miss Universe Philippines 2023.

Ms. Universe 2015 and Smile Train Ambassador Pia Wurtzbach at Smile Train’s Art Impact for Health

The workshop aims to help cleft-affected patients discover healing through art by forging a connection between one’s mind and body, thereby enabling self-expression and empowerment. 

“Healing and health go beyond procedures and treatments. Psychosocial well-being plays a big role in healing and recovery, as well as in building resilience to overcome challenges,” said Mamta Carroll, Senior Vice President and Regional Director for Smile Train Asia.

“As such, we at Smile Train are proud to work alongside the World Health Organization in the Art Impact for Health initiative, as it engages not just patients but those helping in their care by supporting culture and art activities that promote well-being and health for all.”

Ms. Universe Philippines 2023 First Runner-Up CJ Opiaza at Smile Train’s Art Impact for Health

The Art Impact for Health workshop also spreads awareness and deters stigma regarding cleft, which affects children around the world – including the Philippines, where around 5,000 children are born with a cleft every year. 

It also mirrors Smile Train’s enduring commitment to serve the Filipino cleft community through free cleft care and treatment services that can bring transformative change to thousands of Filipinos born with a cleft.  

Ms. Universe Philippines 2023 2nd Runner-Up Angelique Manto at Smile Train’s Art Impact for Health

Over the years, Smile Train has brought to life its vision of a sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and other forms of essential care. It supports 100%-free cleft repair surgery and end-to-end cleft care for children, including through innovations such as telehealth, the establishment of comprehensive cleft care centers nationwide, and activities such as Art Impact for Health. Smile Train treats the whole patient through programs that provide access to comprehensive cleft care services, helping build their confidence to interact with others in school, community, workplace, and ultimately allowing them to fully thrive.

For more information about Smile Train’s global efforts and to donate, please visit smiletrain.org. To learn more about Smile Train’s local programs in the Philippines, please visit smiletrain.ph, follow Smile Train Philippines on Twitter and Instagram @SmileTrainPh, and like us on Facebook at @SmileTrainPhilippines. 

 Metro Pacific Investments Corporation’s (MPIC) mWell, the Philippines’ healthcare mega app, answers the needs of 21^st century physicians for a more efficient, organized, and less paper-driven means to manage their practice and deliver better patient care by introducing mWellMD Advanced. Created by doctors for fellow doctors, the fully integrated, fully digital platform enables comprehensive patient information and clinic management, anytime, from anywhere.

Administrative tasks associated with running a practice can take up a significant amount of time, leaving less time for doctors to focus on patient care. mWellMD Advanced is designed to aid doctors by digitizing many of the administrative tasks associated with running a practice.          It helps optimize efficiency, enhance patient safety, improve patient communications, and streamline patient billing. Recognizing that paper-based patient charting is a major pain point, mWellMD Advanced reduces the effort spent on paperwork and file keeping. By simply using their mobile phone, doctors get unlimited access to patients and storage, as well as digitized patient medical records and history. With the tap of a button, they can conveniently monitor daily schedules and manage appointment bookings for office clinics. They may use the digital tool for clinical documentation, advanced clinical forms, electronic prescriptions, orders, and referrals.

mWell Chairman and MPIC Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan says, “The doctors enrolled in the system are growing.  We are proud of our partner- doctors who are an important part in providing healthcare services to a greater number of Filipinos, making healthcare services accessible, available, and affordable to our people. mWellMD Advanced will empower them to help more people through an innovative, future-proof platform.”

mWell CEO and President and MPIC Chief Finance, Risk, and Sustainability Officer Chaye Cabal-Revilla underscores the importance of responding to the needs of doctors and enabling them to grow their practice using the most advanced tools. “We care for our partner-doctors as much as we care for our app users. As we bring global healthcare to Filipinos, equipping our doctors with a fully integrated and fully digital Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and clinic management system will allow them to serve more patients in the most convenient and efficient way possible.  Created by doctors for doctors, mWellMD Advanced is at par with the best doctor platforms in the world,” Cabal-Revilla said.

The biggest benefit of mWell Advanced is that it is built within the context of an ecosystem of other Health IT products for patients, hospitals, and other health organizations. It is not just a stand-alone software. It is designed to integrate with patient portals, hospital information systems and other clinical IT applications.

Free 60-day trial available

Doctors may try the features of mWellMD Advanced EMR and Clinic Management System for free for 60-days by signing up via https://platform.mwell.com.ph/onboard/signup . They only need to submit their PRC license, profile photo and signature. Subscription fee of P1900 per month is waived.

Round-the-clock operations and tech support

mWell is committed to providing partner-doctors the assistance they need to grow their practice. Tech experts are on-call 24/7 to assist doctors and respond to their questions at the soonest possible time. Doctors can also depend on a reliable operations team for regular training sessions and updates to ensure that they will always have a smooth experience on the mWellMD platform.

With its holistic cybersecurity strategy and end to end cybersecurity operational framework to Predict, Prevent, Detect and Respond to all cyber threats, backed by sophisticated technologies and highly skilled cybersecurity professionals, mWellMD is following global security standards to ensure the security and protection of all Personal Information that are stored, processed, and transmitted in its system belonging to both the doctors and patients.  Angel Redoble, mWell Chief Cybersecurity Officer and PLDT Group and Smart Communications FVP and Group CISO said “mWellMD went through rigorous vulnerability tests and security audits. It completed and passed all requirements to bring down all cyber related risks to the lowest level.”

Easy sign-up

Family doctors, specialists and mind health experts can reach more patients by signing up as an mWell partner-doctor via mwell.com.ph.

Doctors may register in as fast as 30 minutes via mwell.com.ph. No joining fees. Only PRC ID is required. They get 100% of their professional fee without any commission from mWell—no deductions. 

To ensure smooth virtual practice, mWell is also offering partner doctors with an exclusive high-speed internet plan from PLDT Home Fibr: 100mbps for only P1499.

Once they have signed-up, doctors may access the features of the basic mWellMD app to conveniently do online consultation with patients who are using the mWell app. Recognizing their fast-paced lifestyle, mWellMD allows doctors to attend to patients on their mobile phone, 24/7. The mWellMD app for doctors is now available on Google Play Store and Apple App store.

mWell was recently named the winner of two Gold Stevie® Awards in the Innovation in Health & Wellness and Most Innovative Startup of the Year- Business Service Industries categories in the 10th annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. It is the only Philippine entry to bring home the Gold Award in these two categories. Bronze winners include Vietnam, Taiwan, and Australia.

The two Gold Stevie® Awards come at the heels of being chosen as the Best Mobile Innovation for Digital Life in the 2023 Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards, held during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

As part of the MPIC Group, mWell is committed to working towards the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being. It also supports the MVP Group’s Gabay Kalusugan advocacy focusing on quality and affordable healthcare.