Nurse Lynne Shands recently completed her 12th Operation Smile program. It was her fourth in India, where she travelled to Jhansi alongside her daughter, Liz.
It was Liz who first introduced her mother to Operation Smile Australia’s work after completing her own program in Ghana, in 2016. For Liz, volunteering felt like a natural extension of her nursing career. Having benefited from opportunities to study and work within Australia’s well-developed healthcare system, she wanted to give back, broaden her perspective and work alongside local teams and families in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
“That privilege has always made me want to give something back to people who may not have the same opportunities. My first mission was an experience that stayed with me for many years. It challenged me, broadened my understanding of what it means to be a nurse and ultimately made me a better one. I think sometimes the greatest lessons in healthcare come from stepping outside what is familiar and being willing to learn from others.”
Inspired by her daughter’s experience, Lynne already a nurse earned her Operation Smile credentials as a pre- and post-operative nurse and soon began volunteering on programs herself. In August this year, the pair worked together for the first time at our international program in Jhansi.
At home in Australia, Liz works as a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nurse, while Lynne works as a pre- and post-operative nurse: different specialties, but the same love for patient care. “We found we worked seamlessly, as though we had always worked side by side,” Lynne says. Liz agrees: “I felt so blessed to work alongside my mother… I would do it again in a heartbeat.” For Liz, it was a full-circle moment in more ways than one: a chance to return to the kind of mission that had moved her a decade earlier, this time alongside the very person who first inspired her to become a nurse.
Our International Jhansi Program
This was the second Operation Smile program held in Jhansi. The pair were part of a dedicated team of international volunteer health professionals, including anaesthetists, paediatricians, nurses, surgeons and allied health specialists, working alongside local healthcare teams. During the program, 170 patients were screened and 72 received cleft surgery.
Liz found the language barrier between English and Hindi a challenge but says the local ward nurses were wonderful and helpful. “We still worked together brilliantly as a team.”
The program also drew the attention of local MP Anurag Sharma, who visited and asked why some screened patients were ineligible for surgery. The team identified malnutrition and vitamin D deficiency as the main causes of ineligibility. Mr Sharma committed to raising the issue with the Minister for Health and advocating for nutrition programs in communities. He also observed a significant number of previously hidden patients from remote areas.
Lynne says many of those families face real hardship. “Many patients and families live in poverty, and without Operation Smile programs, surgery would be out of reach. The stigma around cleft conditions remains significant, and many affected children are hidden away in their villages, meaning the true number is not fully known.”
Reflecting on why this work matters, Liz says: “Our work changes lives and families for the better. Kids should be seen and loved and have the ability to have a successful future. This surgery gives them the ability to do this.”
Jhansi has become Lynne’s favourite program. “We had wanted to go on a mission together for years, and the experience exceeded our expectations,” she says.
It’s the quiet moments after surgery that stay with Lynne most: watching a child’s confidence shift, seeing them smile freely, often for the first time.