Page 4 - Behind The Smile - Summer 2015

Jerry Hart Returns to LCPC After 59 Years!
When I reflect on the fact that LCPC is the oldest cleft clinic in the world, I often wonder how different or how similar earlier patients’ treatment was compared to today. Fortunately, because the Clinic offers lifetime care,
we regularly see patients who first came here as children. One of these is Jerry Hart who was recently here after a 59-year gap for a follow up appointment
with Dr. Smith.
Jerry first came to LCPC in the mid-1950s for cleft lip and palate treatment. His mother found out about the Clinic in Life Magazine and drove Jerry up on Rt. 1 from Falls Church, VA, which in those
days was quite an adventure! At that time the Clinic was based in Dr. Cooper’s home at 23 North Lime Street and treatment normally required patients to
stay for six weeks while they saw various specialists. Jerry became a resident at LCPC at the beginning of his freshman year of high school. When asked about the effect of having a cleft as a young boy Jerry speaks of some teasing and fights but says he was always popular with girls as he was one of the quieter boys.
Jerry remembers his time in Lancaster as a happy one. Along with orthodontic treatment, x-rays and speech therapy, there was
fun and care provided by the housemother, Molly, who looked after a dozen or so girls and boys in residence. Jerry has fond memories of park visits and
“My most persistent memory of my residential stay
[at the Clinic] was that I was never homesick.”
picnics by the stream at Dr. Cooper’s house out in the countryside. He also remembers doing school work and reading aloud from Psalm 23, “The Lord
Page 4 ___________________________ Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic ••• Behind the Smile eMagazine ••• Summer 2015