Our Story
It all began when our founders, Dr. Emil and Tannia Hecht, were invited to join the Smiles International Foundation Team. This incredible surgical team comes to Los Cabos for a week twice a year, sponsored by the local Rotary Clubs, to do free reconstructive surgeries on children in need born with cleft lip and palate (CLP).
Tannia, with a masters in Speech and Language Pathology, and her husband Dr. Emil Hecht, an ENT and Facial Plastic Surgeon, are honored to be participants in this dynamic mission.
After two years of working with the team, they observed that children needed to be surgically corrected before 14 months in order to be able to learn how to speak clearly.
Most children in Mexico are not surgically repaired by this age due to lack of funds and enough surgeons with the necessary training.
Smiles International Foundation is a blessing to these families.
Once they discovered there were no speech therapists in Los Cabos who were trained to do cleft palate work, they realized a problem needed to be solved.
They began the search for a foundation that would back them until they could establish their own foundation.
After the second year, two foundations accepted ComuniCabo’s program:
Los Cabos Children’s Foundation (LCCF)
Monarca Canada Foundation (Monarca)
and made it possible for American and Canadian donors to receive tax credits.
It also took two years to find and train two therapists.
Meet Our Team
Gabriela Limon
Licensed Degree in Educational Psychology with an emphasis on Speech and Language Therapy.
Jessica Romero
Licensed Degree in Speech and Language Therapy with 8 years of experience.
Alejandra Yañez
Licensed Degree in Speech and Language Therapy with 5 years of experience.
Nayeli Enriquez
Executive secretary for a Mexican corporation and Volunteer administrative assistant for Comunicabo.
Dr. Emil Hecht
Board certified Ear Nose and Throat Facial Plastic Surgeon and founder.
Tannia Hecht
Retired Speech and Language Pathologist and founder.