ABU DHABI // Nurse Marilyn Parro knows exactly what corrective surgery means to children born with cleft conditions - and their parents.
The 44-year-old, who works as a recovery room nurse at Al Ain Hospital, has seen the results first-hand. She has been on six missions abroad in the last year after volunteering through Operation Smile UAE, a children's charity that recruits medical volunteers and funds free surgery and aftercare to those affected by cleft lips and palates.
"It's my passion. I have been volunteering since college. As you grow older, you are looking for something else that's better and higher," said Ms Parro, from the Philippines.
"It's an honour to do something different, something that not everybody can do, something to give service.
"I'm learning as well and not only helping."
On her trips abroad she looks after patients, normally children, in a recovery room immediately after they have undergone surgery to repair clefts.
Some of her patients have suffered by being ostracised because of their facial deformity, she said, and the operation makes an enormous difference to their lives.
"Everything will be changed. It's difficult if you are different from others," she said.
The delight and gratitude of the parents is also plain to see.
"One patient in India, when I called the mother to recovery to get her child, she was crying. She had food with her and she tried to give it to us and I said, 'it's OK, it's for you'. She was so grateful," added Ms Parro.
The UAE resident of 12 years has been on missions to Jordan, China twice, India, Rwanda and, last September, her hometown of Naga City, where the mission took place at a hospital she worked at 28 years ago.
"It was very special. It's nice to be able to go back and help people where you come from," she said.
Ms Parro said she comes across children with cleft lips and palates through her work as a nurse in Abu Dhabi and would like to see the charity offer operations in the UAE.
"It's very distressing for the parents. There are so many complications for them, especially if the parents are not educated in taking care of them," said Ms Parro. Her next medical mission is to Morocco at the end of this month.
Operation Smile UAE hopes to offer surgery to a group of suitable people in the UAE in February next year, in conjunction with an as-yet-unnamed hospital.
ecleland@thenational.ae
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
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Rating: 2.5/5
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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