Native Sons of the Golden West Aid Children Born with Cleft Palate

Members of San Bernardino’s Arrowhead Parlor #110 of the Native Sons of the Golden West joined statewide officers and others who presented a check for $55,000 to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica on Aug. 4 for research and treatment of children born with cleft palate and other craniofacial anomalies. The check was presented to Sister Maureen Craig, SCL, by Native Son’s statewide president Dwight Dutschke, and by Bob Leslie and Steve Faessel, Southern California Coordinators for the Native Sons Charitable Foundation. After the check presentation, Robert Klein, St. John’s Vice President, noted that over the years, St. John’s Cleft Palate Center has received over $1.5 million from the Native Sons. Dr. Janet Salmonson, Medical Director of the Cleft Palate Center, updated the NSGW members on the “team” approach used to provide a full range of services to its young patients and their families. Video segments of parents describing their experiences at St. John’s made it clear how the staff, which includes social workers, plastic surgeons, nurses, dental professionals, genetic counselors, pediatricians, and speech therapists, as well as the Sisters of Charity, and a trained therapy dog named Zeke, allayed their anxieties and helped them and their children through the whole reconstruction process. “Before” photos of infants with severe conditions were contrasted with “after” shots of older children and teens after receiving reconstruction. Arrowhead #110 members attending included Evelyn Alexander, Barbara Kimball, and Jim Smith of San Bernardino, Doug Calkins of Beaumont, Garry Devlin and Sherry Livingston of Rialto and Carol Robb of Grand Terrace.