Hillcrest’s Robin helps engineer smiles

AS imperative as a stage hand’s position is to the success of a stage production, so is the necessity of a clinical engineer’s skills when setting up an operating theatre.

Robin Whittal, a Hillcrest resident, has taken on such a role for Operation Smile, a vital position that has helped change the lives of hundreds of underprivileged people. The organisation provides free surgeries to repair cleft palates, cleft lips and other facial deformities for people around the globe.

Robin has been in the biomedical field since 1977 in partnership with his father, Tiny.

He took over the family business three years later when his dad passed away. He was 19 years old. It was while he was volunteering in Operation Smile’s first mission, at a hospital in Empangeni in 2006, that he fully realised the importance of the work done by the NGO.

“It is very difficult, in the field that I’m in, to find a charitable organisation that you can give back to and give your time to. This is where my sort of portfolio is needed.”

“The volunteer work is just so gratifying and you are helping people that have absolutely nothing,” said Robin.

He has volunteered with the organisation ever since and sacrifices almost a third of each year to support the missions. He said each project lasts about 10 days, which includes screening patients, an announcement day and then four-and-a-half consecutive days of surgery.

“We always need a minimum of three operating rooms per mission with five operating tables. All the electronics are brought in. Most of the places we go to, the lights are non-existent. We set up two operating tables per room and then make sure that all of the equipment is up and running and functioning correctly. If there is a problem with the operating table, there needs to be a way to make sure it is usable. We are there the whole time,” he said.

With 11 years of volunteering under his belt, he was proud to say he has never shut down an operating table, a last resort for any procedure.

“There is only ever one biomedic on duty at a time. You are on your own and are on duty all the time, from the first screening to the last surgery.

“The surgeries help those who can’t afford this type of procedure, something unattainable for them. It is gratifying to see the expressions of the parents when they see their child in recovery. It is something that just cannot be explained.”

Robin’s fondest memory is from a mission in Peru a few years ago, when a man in his early 60s refused to be operated on until everyone else had been seen to.

“While he waited he was helping patients to and from the theatre and helping out in the wards. He could not afford the operation but still wanted to give back in some way.”

As for the number of missions he has been on, Robin chuckled and said he no longer keeps count as it is often that he will travel from one mission directly to the next. The proud father said his son has joined the family business and would also be volunteering with Operation Smile.

For those wanting to get involved with the NPO, there are a lot of opportunities on the volunteering side.

“Give some of your time back to those who are less fortunate. Once you’ve been on a mission like that, you will be humbled. The camaraderie at each mission, surrounded by those just wanting to give back. It requires a special type of person to do this work. You are there for 10 days and you leave with a whole lot of new friends,” added Robin.

Watch the video below for more information on the cleft palate surgeries.