Operation Smile to be Featured on NBC's The Apprentice

    NORFOLK, Va., April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Operation Smile, the not-for-profit
 medical services organization that provides life-altering reconstructive
 facial surgery for children worldwide, will be featured on NBC's hit reality
 show, "The Apprentice," airing Thursday, April 8th from 9pm-10pm ET.  One of
 the show's final tasks will involve megastar Jessica Simpson, Operation
 Smile's International Youth Ambassador.
     Dr. Bill Magee, Co-founder and CEO for Operation Smile, is thrilled that
 NBC's hit show will highlight Operation Smile.  Dr. Magee stated, "We hope
 that through this exposure, our organization will attract more people who can
 help.  A child is the only language we all have in common.  No matter what
 your profession-medicine, television, or business-it takes all of us working
 together to make a difference.  At Operation Smile our bottom line is about
 changing the lives of children, one child at a time."
     "Nick and I have gotten a lot of attention for doing a 'reality' show on
 television, but the ability to give a child his or her smile back is the kind
 of reality that really deserves the attention," said Jessica Simpson,
 International Youth Ambassador, Operation Smile.  "We are both so happy to
 play a small part in the wonderful work Operation Smile does for children
 around the world, helping to make their dreams a reality."
     For twenty-two years, Operation Smile has treated tens of thousands of
 children and young adults suffering from conditions including cleft lips,
 cleft palates, burns and tumors.  Cleft lips and cleft palates are the fourth
 largest birth defect in the world.  One out of every 800 children in the
 United States, and one out of every 500 in developing countries are born with
 correctable facial deformities that are often life-threatening and emotionally
 traumatizing.
     Each year Operation Smile's teams of highly specialized medical volunteers
 perform surgeries and provide related healthcare on international missions to
 more than 20 countries.  During a typical two-week mission, approximately 300
 to 500 patients receive free medical evaluations; an average of 100 to 150 are
 given free surgical treatment. Operation Smile also trains local medical
 professionals and donates equipment to promote sustainable healthcare systems
 worldwide.
 
     About Operation Smile
     Throughout the world, Operation Smile volunteers repair childhood facial
 deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for
 sustainable healthcare systems for children and families.  Together, we create
 smiles, change lives and heal humanity.  Operation Smile was founded in 1982
 by William P. Magee, Jr., D.D.S., M.D., and Kathleen S. Magee, M.S.W., B.S.N.,
 is headquartered in Norfolk, Va., and is included in the 2003 Forbes 200 list
 of charities.  For more information, go to www.operationsmile.org .
 
      Dee Dee Sides                            Lisa Jardanhazy
      Operation Smile                          Operation Smile
      dsides@operationsmile.org                ljardan@operationsmile.org
      212.715.1566                             757.321.3250
 
 

SOURCE  Operation Smile