After 6 & 1/2 years, it feels like the right time to pass Cleft NZ, our vision and purpose on to the next group of passionate people.  I became involved because of our beautiful son Oliver.  After that first full on year I thought I’d like to learn more about the system and support new families through what we had just experienced. (more…)

We would like to thank the Staff of MPD group who have chosen to support Cleft NZ with their Movember campaign. We really appreciate it!

“We chose Cleft NZ to support with the Movember campaign because our boss, Mick and his family, have benefitted from your service. We felt that we wanted to give back and say thank you for all the support and help that they received when Max was born”, says Bianca from MPD group. (more…)

Kenny’s back in the house and we are really pleased!

(borrowed from new Auckland Mayor Len Brown) .  For those that don’t know Kenny has been in England for most of this year – but he’s back home in Christchurch and already making his presence felt.

Not Kenny - but Santa is magical for everyone

Kenny is running in this year’s Santa run and 50% of the funds he raises is for Cleft NZ.  Thanks Kenny.  Please support Kenny by sponsoring his initiative, or if you think this is a cool idea and gr8 way to help Cleft NZ, then maybe you want to do the Santa run too.

For all you need to know, go to Kenny’s Santa run website. 

We love you Kenny  - your enthusiasm, endless ideas and ability to just get things done is an inspiration.  The Santa runs are in all the main centres, so we may even get to meet each other at the events!

Auckland University is pleased to offer free hearing assessments for children aged 6 months to 4 years and 11 months on Mondays until the end of the year in their audiology teaching clinic.

Appointments are also available Tuesday – Friday for the child size fee of $20.

Please contact the university to make an appointment:
The University of Auckland Clinics
Tāmaki Innovation Campus
School of Population Health
Ground Floor
Phone: 373 7999 Ext: 89909
Email: clinics@auckland.ac.nz
Web: www.clinics.auckland.ac.nz

If you missed the story here is the link. 

Remember that with the right information and support we can Face anything that comes our way.  Cleft NZ offers anyone born with cleft and their family support and information.  If you too would like to share your experiences to help make a difference, you may want to take part in our survey. Find the  link to the survey in the article below this one.  Or you may like to join in our Facebook community.  There is a facebook page for parents and one for young people born with cleft.

Cleft NZ wants to understand about what is important to you. What has worked, what hasn’t, what do you think would make a difference.  We are interested in everyone’s perspectives – people born with cleft, families and friends, professionals working with us.

Please take 10 minutes to fill in this survey, your input is greatly appreciated and will help prioritise what Cleft NZ does next.

We would also like to encourage you to forward this link to others you may know that are either people born with a cleft, other professionals working in the community or extended family and friends who are interested in the outcomes for individuals born with cleft. We want to get as many diverse perspectives as we can to help us fine tune the services available.

Choose an appropriate survey link below and take 10 mins to make your experiences count.

• For people born with Cleft
• For professionals working in the field
• For family and support people
  Thank you we appreciate your time

Winning the Volunteer Award has allowed Cleft NZ to spread the word about what we do.  Take a look at Counties Manukau DHB’s magazine.  We are on page 8.  

http://www.cmdhb.org.nz/News_Publications/Newsletters/Connect/2010/connect-jun2010.pdf

At an extravagant award ceremony at St Matthews in the City on Tue 8th June, Susan won the Health and Nutrition Category of the Intrepid Travel Volunteer of the Year Award.  

Susan was overwhelmed to be amongst such amazing volunteers and manage to be one of the 7 recipients. Cleft New Zealand would like to thank Good Magazine, Intrepid Travel, Fujitsu and all the other sponsors of the event. We would also like to thank Honourable Tariana Turia and Te Radar for adding to the sense of occassion – it really made us feel special.

But an an especially big thanks to all of you who voted for Cleft NZ and Susan. It was the voters who made all the difference.

We would like to congratulate Darryl Pascoe from StarJam for winning the overall award. If you would like to subscribe to Good Magazine 20% will be donated to StarJam.  Everyone nominated does amazing work in their communities – a true inspiration.  For Susan the real motivation is the many amazing young people born with cleft that she has the privelge to meet.  How you face your adveristy and rise above the challenges is an inspiration and lesson to us all.

Learn about the recipients

This study has gone through ethics approval and will among other things look at

• Incidence of cleft – with different variables like ethnicity
• Burden of care – which means the number of visits and surgeries required in the first 5 years
• Speech Language Assessment of all 5 year olds  (a modified GossPass assesment if you are interested)
• An orthodontic assessment of dental arch for 9 year olds (Goslon yardstick and Bauru Index)
• An assessment of the quality of the alveolar bone graft
• And an initial assessment from an oral health perspective on quality of life outcomes.

Cleft NZ would like to thank Peter Fowler and all the cleft units for taking the initiative to run this research. It will help to give a clear picture of what happens for our children and how this impacts upon our lives as families generally. It is a great way to assess how we are doing and the outcomes of the interventions we have.

If you have recently moved and would like to participate, please contact your closest Cleft Unit to update your details. It is a chance to use our experience to help our professionals do an even better job.