On September 14th 2004 the first international conference of European Cleft Lip & Palate support groups took place. CLAPA Uk hosted the event, nurse which was held in London. It was a tremendous success thanks to all the speakers and delegates who made it such an interesting day. CLAPAI chairman Eddie Byrne made a presentation outlining how cleft is treated in Ireland and how the Association operates here. Valuable contacts have been made par...

We recently had a query from one of our parents about Root Canal Treatment. On a routine visit to the Orthodontist in St. James’s Hospital our parent was advised that root canal treatment might be needed for daughter Christina. The question raised was where could root canal treatment be received and would there be a cost.

As fundraising efforts have shown, there is a gap in public awareness of cleft lip & palate. In recent times however there has been more national publicity, which is to be welcomed. In July, Laura was on TV3 with Mr. Earley. The topic under discussion was the real value of plastic surgery versus cosmetic surgery. Both participants came across well. The result was the profile of cleft was raised at a national level.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Setting a positive agenda in cleft & craniofacial care”. The conference was attended by members of cleft teams from both Temple Street & Crumlin hospitals.

The Association has been talking to Mr. Mc Cann about new developments in the West. We are happy to report that recruitment is under way to get a full time Speech and Language Therapist along with a Counsellor and hopefully a Cleft Coordinator.

Cleft treatment has got an amount of publicity recently. There were two articles in the Irish Times Health Supplement on the 23rd March. The main article dealt with the current crisis in Speech Language Therapy services with contributions from several voluntary organisations including CLAPI. The second article was specifically about Cleft treatment & early SLT intervention. Again CLAPAI made a contribution to this article.