Nov 6, 2002
 SEATTLE - Several years ago, Dr. Sherwin Shinn met Alfonso Figuero at an orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while on a relief mission. Since then, Dr. Shinn has brought back pictures and stories every year about Alfonso. When students in Issaquah, Washington, learned about Alfonso, they decided to start writing letters and raising money on his behalf.
Alfonso's spine had become severely misshapen by tuberculosis, distorting his rib cage and causing him to lose about 30% of his lung capacity. However, in early September 2002, after a delicate 12-hour surgery and months in an upper-body cast, a beaming Alfonso was on his way home. Without this surgery, it's expected Alfonso's pulmonary condition would have continued to worsen and may have been fatal.
The students were quite successful on Alfonso's behalf. Not only did generous AAdvantage members furnish the miles needed to get Alfonso from Bolivia to Seattle and back, but Dr. Ted Wagner and many other doctors and personnel at Swedish/First Hill Medical Center in Seattle donated their services. In addition, the hospital wrote off the cost of Alfonso's hospital stay, worth more than $100,000.
Alfonso came to the U.S. through the International Smile Power Foundation that Dr. Shinn, a dentist, and his wife started. The goal of this foundation is to provide health care, ongoing disease prevention education and supplies to underserved populations in developing nations. To learn more, visit www.smilepower.org.
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