The year 2018 to 2019 began eventfully for the NCFP team of volunteers. Early in 2018, Smile Train hosted an event for comprehensive cleft care in South East Asia. In Bangkok, Thailand, the NCFP was the model for comprehensive cleft care in a resource poor country.
It was quite heartening to realize that the NCFP and its programs are recognized by Smile Train as a standard for comprehensive and multidisciplinary care not only in the Philippines but also South East Asia.The NCFP team lecture was well received in Bangkok. It was clear that the NCFP paradigm as a model for comprehensive cleft care is a viable standard. Therefore, documentation of our protocol must be made. This would enable continuity of our model of cleft care beyond the present board of trustees and allow this model to be preserved and improved in the coming years. It is also important that documentation of our protocols be made so that other professionals and cleft care specialists who wish to provide for similar care to cleft patients be able to learn from our example. This will be the main project for the coming year. Later that year, a meeting was held at the Manila Doctors Hospital. This strategic planning meeting was attended by the board members and volunteers of NCFP. A renewed Vision Mission statement was agreed upon by the body. They are as follows:
Mission: NCFPI will sustain our craniofacial centers with excellent resources and training needed to deliver world-class comprehensive care
Vision: NCFPI will be the byword and benchmark for excellent compassionate comprehensive cleft and craniofacial care in the Philippines.
This new Mission-Vision clarified and realigned the focus of NCFP. Planning for the next 3 to 5 years was likewise formulated. Already numerous key plans and projects from this chart have been achieved. Last year was filled with important achievements for the foundation. The NCFP attained Philippine Council for Non-Government Organization Credentialing (PCNC) certification. Likewise, the NCFP also achieved BIR accreditation as a Tax-Exempt Donee Institution. We were also accredited by the DSWD as “First Level Standard” in implementation of our programs. Thus, looking back and gazing inward, the foundation hopes to see the good, take out the bad and keep what works. Documentation is important so that we can keep on improving. The goal is to learn from the past errors and maintain and improve on what works.
Finally, all this effort is geared towards providing for the Filipino child with cleft, with the comprehensive multidisciplinary care that he/she deserves.