Gillette Children's is expanding its craniofacial services to Duluth to offer families in northeastern Minnesota convenient access to expert care. On the fourth Monday of every month pediatric craniofacial and plastic surgeons, Jo Barta, MD and Courtney Carpenter, MD, will have appointments in Gillette’s Duluth Clinic.

“It’s time. It’s just time,” says Gillette Children’s pediatric craniofacial and plastic surgeon, Martin Lacey, MD. Dr. Lacey has more than 30 years of experience caring for children who have craniofacial concerns and will retire from Gillette at the end of December 2022. He feels confident his patients are in good hands with with his colleagues, pediatric craniofacial plastic surgeons, Jo Barta, MD, and Courtney Carpenter, MD.

New Gillette Children’s pediatric craniofacial and plastic surgeon, Courtney Carpenter, MD says she’s finally found her “happy place.” She enjoys working with children and looks forward to forming relationships with Gillette families.

The Quinn family shares their experience about their newborn daughter receiving a diagnosis of craniosynostosis. They appreciate the Gillette team approach to care which allows for collaboration between the neurosurgeon and the plastic surgeon to formulate a clear, patient-specific plan. Two surgeons working side-by-side in the operating room decreases operating time and reduces the length of exposure a child has to general anesthesia.

Two mothers share their journey of receiving cleft lip and/or palate care for their babies at Gillette Children's. July is National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness Month. Gillette has one of the largest craniofacial programs in the U.S. Both mothers appreciate the expertise care and support at Gillette. You can see by her smile that Heavenly Smith is delighted with the outcome. 

A simple tote bag from Gillette Children's is proving to be a powerful tool. The tote bag contains a collection of tools and educational materials to support parents of children who need cleft lip and/or palate repair. The carefully designed “Smile Bags” are a way for the Gillette craniofacial team to reach out to parents who might be feeling anxious and overwhelmed by their new baby’s diagnosis.

When a baby is born with a cleft lip and palate, the craniofacial experts at Gillette can offer guidance, reassurance and exceptional care. Learn more about cleft lip and palate repair.

The craniofacial team at Gillette includes craniofacial pediatric plastic surgeons, neurosurgeons, dentists, orthodontists, speech-language pathologists, advance practice nurse practitioners, audiologists and other providers who’ve been carefully selected because of their specialized training in their respective fields to support children.

The dental clinic at Gillette Children's is now open and seeing patients after being closed for three months as a precaution to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Gillette's dental clinic is one of only three facilities in the metro area that is specially equipped to serve patients with disabilities.

Diagnosing velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) takes careful listening, testing, data collection and detective work. VPD is an umbrella term that describes multiple disorders that cause leakage of air into the nasal passages during speech production. Gillette Children's speech-language pathologist, Graham Schenck, PhD, has special training in VPD and is an expert in its detection.

Take a moment to meet Ruth “Jo” Barta, MD, Gillette’s new fellowship-trained and board-certified pediatric craniofacial and plastic surgeon.