Every so often a very special person comes along that makes a tremendous difference in the lives of many people. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon Dr. Carlos Cruz is one of those people. His effort in creating the new Cleft and Craniofacial Team is making a difference in the Rio Grande Valley.

In his practice Dr. Cruz sees many newborn and older children who have a condition know as cleft palate or cleft lip. In fact, this birth defect that can greatly disfigure the mouth of the baby is more prevalent among the Hispanic population. While the condition is treatable, cleft children often face a long journey of special care, including as many as a dozen surgeries over the course of their childhood. They often must wear special braces and likely see all sorts of physicians, including neonatologists, oral surgeons, orthodontists, dentists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and plastic surgeons. They also spend a lot of time with speech therapists as they learn to talk in their formative years.

Prior to Dr. Cruz’s efforts, Valley children with cleft lip or palate had to leave the area to see a special team of physicians and health care personnel that could provide coordinated care. With a great deal of help from Valley Baptist and a lot of hard work, Dr. Cruz formed the first active Cleft and Craniofacial Team in the Rio Grande Valley. Now, children can visit Valley Baptist’s Matt & Patty Gorges Children's Center once a month and see multiple physicians at one time. Cleft team members meet to discuss the patients and their course of treatment and the children benefit tremendously from the quality comprehensive treatment they receive.

To support this wonderful program, the Valley Baptist Foundation started The Smile Fund. Donations for this fund are used to help promote support groups for the children and their families, for program coordinator continuing education, and to help families in need pay for their care. The Foundation also secured a donation of special bottles for cleft babies called Haberman Feeders that will be given to families in need.

With great partners like Dr. Carlos Cruz, the Children’s Center at Valley Baptist and the Valley Baptist Foundation, the cleft team is certain to be a success! To make a contribution to The Smile Fund, contact the Valley Baptist Foundation at 956-389-1614. To make an appointment or find out more information about the team, please call 956-389-5127.

Valley Baptist Cleft and Craniofacial Team

Specialist	Specialty
Carlos Cruz, DDS (Director)	Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Gerald Whitson, DDS	Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Karl F. Frey, DDS	Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Marcus L. McRoberts, DDS, MD	Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Steve Shepard, DDS	Orthodontics
David Adame, DDS, MS	Orthodontics
Ricardo Garcia, DDS, MS	Orthodontics
James Werth, MD	Otolaryngology
Eugene Mackie, MD	Otolaryngology
Tan Nguyen, MD	Otolaryngology
Dr. Hammer	Otolaryngology
Rodolfo Saca, MD	Neonatology
Alejandro Betancourt, MD	Pediatric Neurosurgeon
Jose Gilberto Dones, MD	Neurosurgeon
Giovanna Ghafoori, MD	Plastic Surgery
Lester Peacock. MD	Eye Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Linda Burke, DDS	Pediatric Dentistry
Michael Adame, DDS	General Dentistry
Walter Lopez, DDS	Dentistry/Orthodontics
Domingo Valadez, DDS, MSD	Maxillofacial Prosthetics & Implant Dentistry
George Angelos, DMD	Pediatric Dentistry
Patrick Wilcox, DDS	Pediatric Dentistry
Bill Pope, DDS	Pediatric Dentistry
Vincent Macias, MD	Geneticist
Lilliana Rodriguez	Psychology
Diego Rodriguez, MD	Psychiatry
Tomas Gonzalez, MD	Psychiatry
Denis Newman, MD, Ph.D. Professor & Chair	Communication Sciences & Disorders, UTPA
Patty Roldan, MA, CCC	Audiologist
Charles Butler, MA, CCC	Audiologist
Rosemary Perkins, RN	Case Management / Clinic Coordinator
Gracie Flores	Clinic Secretary
Cindy Moody, SWA	Social Services
Judi DeHart, RN	Case Management
Judy McKelvey, MA, CCC/SLP	Speech Language Pathology
Jennifer Mach, MS, CCC/SLP	Speech Language Pathology
Suzanne McCallum, MA, CCC/SLP	Speech Language Pathology
Jim Culbertson, MS, CCC/SLP	Speech Language Pathology
Wendy Flores, MS, CCC/SLP	Speech Language Pathology
Stephanie Zinda, MS, CCC/SLP	Speech Language Pathology
Gail Downey, RN, CNOR	Nursing Administration
AnaLiza Diaz, R.Ph.	Pharmacy
Joanne Wetch, BSN, RN, CRRN, CCM	Case Management