Kaplan Center for Joint Reconstruction Surgery To Open

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JIM & ELLEN KAPLAN CENTER FOR JOINT RECONSTRUCTION SURGERY TO OPEN AT NEWTON-WELLESLEY HOSPITAL
Joseph C. McCarthy, MD, formerly of New England Baptist, Appointed to Lead Multidisciplinary Center

NEWTON, Mass. (April, 2007) – According to the government's annual, comprehensive report of Americans' health - Health United States 2006 -- released in November by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics, joint pain is among the most common complaints and the knee is the joint that causes the most pain.

Joint pain can be caused by a variety of injuries and conditions. Many patients do not realize there are a variety of options available to relieve this intrusive and sometimes, debilitating pain. To respond to the needs of patients in the western suburbs, Newton-Wellesley Hospital has opened The Jim & Ellen Kaplan Center for Joint Reconstruction Surgery.

In conjunction with the opening, Joseph C. McCarthy, MD, formerly on staff at New England Baptist Hospital, has been named Director, Joint Reconstruction Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. In addition, he will hold the role of Vice Chair for Program Development, Orthopaedic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Daniel Snyder, MD, has been named Assistant Director of the Joint Center and will also provide joint services, along with Henry DeGroot, MD, Joseph Ferrone, MD, Lawrence Geuss, MD, Alfred Hanmer, MD, Daniel Quinn, MD, Sean Rockett, MD, and Carl Spector, MD.

“Newton-Wellesley Hospital has made a significant commitment to the community in developing the Joint Center,” said Dr. McCarthy. “I am honored to spearhead this effort.”

The Jim and Ellen Kaplan Joint Center for Reconstruction Surgery is a collaboration between Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital designed to provide the highest level of orthopaedic treatment for joint injuries and disease while allowing immediate access to a range of services, specialists, and sophisticated procedures at Newton-Wellesley. 

“This collaboration brings seamless medical care to patients from health care professionals dedicated to learning and utilizing the latest procedures available,” said Mark Belsky, MD, Chief, Orthopaedic Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. “Surgeons in the Joint Center have significant experience handling a variety of joint conditions and work together to provide patients with a range of options to treat their pain.” 

The Joint Center team will provide superior patient care from diagnosis to recovery by combining the expertise of orthopaedic surgeons with innovative, specialized services like total joint arthroscopy and joint resurfacing. Arthroscopy, a minimally invasive procedure used to evaluate and treat many common hip disorders, is an alternative to open surgery, which involves larger incisions and increased recovery time. Various other minimally invasive surgical techniques will also be utilized to provide more outpatient procedures, shorter inpatient stays and decreased recovery time.

Surgeons in the Joint Center will use computer-navigated or computer-assisted surgery, various conservative muscle and bone-sparing techniques and new, improved pain management methods that result in easier, faster recovery from joint repair and replacement. These orthopaedic specialists will treat various conditions including orthopaedic disorders that affect the joints such as degenerative joint disease, cartilage and labral injury, joint malalignment and ligament and tendon tears, including soft tissue injuries. 

“I’m very excited about this partnership with Newton-Wellesley Hospital,” said Harry Rubash, MD, Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. “The wide range of services provided by the Center will be a great resource for patients and physicians.”

The Joint Center was made possible in large part by a generous gift of $1 million from Jim and Ellen Kaplan of Weston, patients of NWH physicians for several years.  Jim Kaplan is a Director of the NWH Charitable Foundation and also serves on the Board of Overseers. The gift will help fund construction of three new operating rooms, two of which will be outfitted with Laminar Flow technology to minimize risk of infection. The rooms will include the latest in computer navigated and computer-assisted surgery equipment.
 
The procedures performed at the Joint Center are tracked and studied through the Massachusetts General Hospital Harris Joint Replacement Registry in order to provide patients and referring physicians with the most current data about various treatments and procedures. For more information about the Joint Center, call CareFinder at 617/243-6566 or visit www.nwh.org/jointcenter.

Newton-Wellesley is a full system member of Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (PHCS), a nonprofit organization that includes acute care hospitals Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's/Faulkner Hospitals, The North Shore Medical Center, and specialty hospitals McLean Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, as well as Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare, and the community-based doctors and hospitals of Partners Community HealthCare, Inc.
 
Newton-Wellesley Hospital provides a wide range of services, including medical, surgical, obstetrical, orthopaedic, neonatal, pediatric and psychiatric care. Newton-Wellesley has been serving its community for over a century. The medical staff of the Hospital includes over 1,000 physicians practicing a full range of specialties. NWH is a major teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine and also has established post-graduate training programs for Harvard Medical School residents.

CONTACT: 
Rachel Kagno
Public Affairs & Marketing
Newton-Wellesley Hospital
617-243-6528
rkagno@partners.org