More Than a Picnic: A Community Built Around Care

One of the things I continue to appreciate about GBMC is just how many special communities exist within our larger community.

A wonderful example was the recent picnic at Lake Roland for children and families from GBMC’s Randolph B. Capone Cleft Lip and Palate Program. There were smiling kids, face painting, sand art, animal encounters with the Lake Roland Nature Center, and plenty of time for families and members of our care team to reconnect.

Think of it as a special reunion.

These are families whose relationships with GBMC can span many years. Our team gets to know the children and their parents, and families get to know one another, too. So, while the gathering was certainly about having fun, it was also a celebration of something much bigger: the community that has grown around caring for these children.

One detail I especially loved was the patient logo design contest held before the picnic. Emmett submitted the winning design, which was printed on silicone cups given to everyone who attended. There’s a great photo of him (see above) proudly holding his cup alongside Stephanie Boblooch, MSW, LCSW-C, Cleft Team Clinical Program Manager and Clinical Social Worker.

It’s a small detail, but I think it captures something important. These families aren’t simply coming to GBMC for a procedure and then moving on. They become part of a community.

For some families, that relationship with GBMC begins before their baby is even born. Learning during pregnancy that your baby has a condition you may know very little about can bring a lot of questions. What will this mean for my baby? What kind of care will they need? What will the years ahead look like?

In case you aren't familiar, a cleft lip occurs when the tissues that form a baby’s upper lip don’t fully come together during development, while a cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth. A child may be born with one or both.

And while we may first think about the visible difference of a cleft lip, these conditions can affect much more than appearance. Depending on the child, there can be challenges with feeding, speech, hearing, dental development and other aspects of growing up. Care can extend over many years, which is why having the right team (and a team that really knows your child) matters so much.

At GBMC, that means bringing together specialists from multiple disciplines to care for the whole child and support the family along the way. It is highly specialized care that requires expertise, coordination and relationships.

And that gets to something else I continue to appreciate about GBMC.

When people hear the words community hospital, they may not immediately think of a highly specialized program like this one. But that combination has been part of GBMC’s identity from the beginning. Our founders envisioned a hospital that would combine the best of community and university-level medicine.

John F. Caccamese, DMD, MD, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon and Co-Medical Director of the Cleft Lip & Palate Program; Vidisha Sharma, DMD, Pediatric Dentist; Stephanie Boblooch, MSW, LCSW-C, Cleft Team Clinical Program Manager and Clinical Social Worker; Amy Kimball, MS, Clinical Genetics Counselor; Annie Deremeik, RD, CSP, LDN, Dietitian; and Rachel Plotnick, MD, Pediatrician.

The Randolph B. Capone Cleft Lip and Palate Program is a wonderful example of what that looks like in practice. Families can find specialized, multidisciplinary expertise right here in their community. At the same time, they have a team that knows them, stays connected with them and celebrates alongside them.

Clinical expertise matters enormously, particularly when a family is facing something unexpected. But so does having people around you who will answer your questions, explain what comes next and give you confidence that you and your child will be supported throughout the journey.

That’s what makes this picnic more than a picnic. It represents relationships built over years. It represents parents and children who have formed connections with one another. And it represents kids getting an afternoon to have fun and simply be kids.

That is patient-centered care in a very tangible form.

To everyone involved with the Randolph B. Capone Cleft Lip and Palate Program: thank you for the expertise you bring to this work and, just as importantly, for the community you have created around the children and families you serve.

And Emmett, congratulations on the winning design. I think you may have set the bar pretty high for any future contests that may arise.