Cleft charity Smile Train on Tuesday, April 27, launched its online therapy services, saying it is standing by its commitment to continue promoting cleft care despite the challenges brought about by COVID-19.

The services are centered around a mobile app designed to help parents, guardians and children access speech therapy services online. The app features educational sessions and speech therapy sessions in Filipino, while also serving as a platform connecting families affected with cleft to healthcare professionals.

Smile Train says it has treated over 200 patients and has conducted over 1,000 cleft care-related sessions since the start of the pandemic thanks to its telehealth program.

Sessions range from speech therapy, nutritional support, breastfeeding guidance for mothers of babies with clefts to pre-surgical consultations and psychosocial care.

“With the app, distance is no longer a problem. Kids may start their speech therapy sessions which they otherwise would not have started without the app. Furthermore, the app encourages more speech pathologists to partner with Smile Train,” said Veronica Yu, a speech pathologist and the lead content creator of the app.

“Partnering with Smile Train is life-changing, and I know that the Smile Train app will give many speech pathologists the fulfillment of knowing that they are making a difference in people’s lives,” Yu concluded. 

Nifty Hero is the developer of the Smile Train app, and is now available on the App Store and the Google Play Store. For more details about the app, visit http://smiletrainspeechapp.com/. – Rappler.com