Established in 1951, the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction addresses the plight of children with a facial disfigurement by supporting state - of - the - art treatment, innovative research, psychosocial support and medical training that inspires a new generation of pediatric doctors.

To meet this mission, the NFFR founded and proudly remains the funding arm of the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery (IRPS) at NYU Medical Center. The Institute is a center of excellence that diagnoses and provides medical treatment and psychosocial services for over 1,700 patients every year, regardless of the severity of their condition, the length of treatment or the family's ability to afford care - 72% of the patients seen at the Institute are uninsured, Medicaid recipients or "clinic" care patients.

MISSION

There are children in America who need our help-children with facial deformities. Disfigurement of the face, or "facial difference", whether congenital or acquired, can mean a lifetime of shame, self-consciousness and social isolation, unless a child receives long-term quality reconstruction and emotional support. NFFR was founded in 1951 to assure those with craniofacial malformations access to integrative, specialized and highly personalized treatment that addresses every facial anomaly, regardless of its severity or length of treatment time, or a family's ability to afford care.

HOW VARIETY HELPS

Variety the Children's Charity of New York's grant to the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction will be used towards the purchase of a naso-endoscopy machine for their Airway Clinic. The machine can scope a child's airway, nose and throat to see if a tracheotomy is necessary or if a trache tube can be removed. The Airway Clinic was created in 2009 for children who are afflicted with any facial condition that causes airway challenges and whose families cannot afford to see an ENT specialist privately. Some of the children have cleft lip & palate; some have syndromic conditions, including Treacher Collins, Crouzon, and craniofacial microsomia; some lack ear canals or outer ears; some are trache dependent; and some have vascular growths that hinder function. The inability to breathe, eat, sleep or speak are disabilities that can cause sleep apnea and malnutrition, lower brain function, and make it difficult to develop communication skills that promote social interaction. During the 3 hour clinic, naso-endoscopies, scans, hearing tests and sleep studies are reviewed; middle ears are checked and parents are given full explanations of how the Institute team thinks these issues can be addressed. All of the children in Airway Clinic are Medicaid and whose families are very low income.

With the purchase of the naso-endoscopy machine the Clinic will be able to do its own endoscopies and not have time wasted in locating and scheduling the time elsewhere to do testing. In addition, hearing tests and devices may be recommended which are covered by Medicaid. Staff is covered by NFFR General Operating Funds and the doctors donate their time to the clinic.