On August 5, Durham Mayor Steve Schewel presented the Duke Cleft and Craniofacial Center with a Proclamation to promote cleft and craniofacial awareness in Durham. One of the team’s patients, Marilyn Taylor, a 7-year-old Durham County resident, accepted the Proclamation along with Dr. Jeffrey Marcus, Professor and Chief, Division of Plastic, Maxillofacial, and Oral Surgery and Director of the Duke Cleft and Craniofacial Center. The center is so proud of Marilyn for representing their team!
The Duke Cleft and Craniofacial Center is one of 175 multidisciplinary teams in the United States approved by the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) to provide care to children with cleft lip and/or palate and other craniofacial anomalies. Cleft lip and/or palate is among the most common congenital conditions, affecting 1 out of 700 people, or one baby born every two hours in the United States.
Children with cleft lip/palate require complex, coordinated, multidisciplinary care in stages, from birth through young adulthood. In past decades — and even today in many areas of the country — it was not uncommon for a child with cleft lip and palate to undergo 20 operations in his or her lifetime. It is the pursuit of the Duke Cleft and Craniofacial Center and its dedicated members to minimize the operative burden — with a goal of three operations — while optimizing outcomes and catering care to the specific needs of each individual patient. Marilyn exemplifies how patients treated by our Duke team are helped to realize their full potential.
July has, for some time, been regarded as National Cleft and Craniofacial Month by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the ACPA, and other groups; and now with this proclamation, it is officially so in Durham.
