| |  | | | | | | On the cards: Dr David Fitzpatrick. | | | | A new initiative from CdLS UK medical director David Fitzpatrick will help families develop a virtual medical team among the specialists that they see. In the New Year, the Foundation will introduce the CdLS Care Card which families will keep with their CdLS individual. The card will cover details of all of the doctors and professionals dealing with different aspects of the person’s care and will record dates and results of tests carried out. The card will also give a brief précis – using medical terminology – about various aspects and treatment protocols for CdLS. This will give any physician an immediate overview of the condition and will alert them to specific emergency procedures. Speaking at the Peebles family meeting, Dr Fitzpatrick said the Care Card had been piloted with other groups of people with rare disorders in Scotland and had proved to be very effective. “If you look at what happens at a cleft palate clinic you would have a multi-disciplinary team including the dentist, the geneticist, the paediatric surgeon, the paediatrician, the speech therapist, the plastic surgeon and others all in the same room,” said Dr Fitzpatrick. “That’s possible because of how common cleft palate is. For something like CdLS it would be impossible. The card will do this for us.” The initial card will be sent, with a plastic holder, to all registered CdLS families but in future it will be available as a downloadable image through the Foundation’s web site. The families at the Peebles meeting were unanimous in their approval of the idea. | 
