Need to talk to us?
What can we help you find?
2014 Washington Street
Newton, MA 02462
617-243-6000
Open 24 hoursLab Hours and Holiday Hours Vary
307 W Central St
Natick, MA 01760
617-243-5345
159 Wells Ave
Newton Centre, MA 02459
617-243-5777
111 Norfolk Street
Walpole, MA 02081maps
978 Worcester Road (rte 9)
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02482
781-235-5200
Open 24 hours
Lab Hours and Holiday Hours Vary
25 Washington Street
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481
617-219-1520
9 Hope Ave
Waltham, MA 02453
617-243-5590
Monday through Saturday: 9:00 am to 7:00 pm
Sunday: 9:00 am to 2:00 pm
Section Menu
Brenda Galen, 58 from Needham, has been active and athletic for most of her adult life. Through the years she has enjoyed leading Girl Scouts, coaching cheerleading and shopping. Then, at age 45, Brenda was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, and suffered for years.
“I had trouble walking up or down stairs and could not walk for any lengthtrouble walking up or down stairs and could not walk for any length of time,” says Brenda. “It usually resulted in being put in a wheelchair, which was discouraging to me and my family. I was in constant pain. I just wanted a normal life.”
She had her right knee replaced in 2004, but wasn’t completely satisfied with the results, so when it became clear six years later that her right hip was next, she called the Kaplan Joint Center at the recommendation of her primary care physician. “It was the best thing I could have done,” says Brenda.
Hany Bedair, MD, replaced her right hip, then her left hip a year later and finally her left knee most recently. “Dr. Bedair is friendly, professional, caring and he makes you feel like your concerns are valid and that you are his only patient at that time,” explains Brenda. “The entire team is personable and great listeners. They make you feel like a person, not a patient.”
The Joint Center team strives to make each patient’s experience as positive as possible. “I had a gorgeous, spacious private room with a picture window and two large screen TVs, one for me and one for my daughter who stayed overnight on the day bed,” says Brenda.
After each surgery, Dr. Bedair, Judy Walsh, Nurse Practitioner and the Joint Center’s internist Judy Yang, MD, visited her. “There isn’t anything better than feeling that you matter,” says Brenda.
She explains that rehabilitation has gone smoothly every time. Just five days after having her right hip replaced, Brenda was scooting down the hallway of a rehab facility with her walker.
“The nurse asked me to slow down and I told her she didn’t understand how wonderful it felt to be able to walk without pain!”
She has been very pleased with her progress in the seven weeks since her most recent surgery on her left knee. “I am able to get up out of the chair without pain, walk further than I have been able to walk in years, and get in and out of bed easily,” she says. Brenda is looking forward to one particular physical activity with her new knee: dancing at her daughter Kathleen’s upcoming wedding!
If there’s one message Brian Brown, 58, has for anyone suffering from serious joint problems, it’s don’t wait until your life is too intolerable to have surgery.
“As you wait, your quality of life deteriorates, you lose your range of motion and you don’t sleep anymore,” says Brian. “And in some cases, you get complications like back problems because you’re constantly favoring one side over the other.”
The father of two from Walpole was diagnosed with arthritis at 37. Both hips and his right knee have been replaced over the last 13 years. His most recent knee and hip replacements, by Joseph McCarthy, MD and Hany Bedair, MD at the Kaplan Joint Center, have changed his life.
Brian has always been athletic and active, playing golf, coaching high school basketball for two decades and bartending part time in addition to his full-time job.
“I’m in construction sales and I’m in and out of my car all day going to job sites and visiting customers,” explains Brian. “Even when moving is painful, the more active you are, the better it is. But when you sit in the car all day like I do, a bad joint will stiffen. After my joint replacements, getting in and out of the car is so much easier.”
About four years ago, the pain in Brian’s right knee increased. He was very impressed when he called the Joint Center and was given an appointment for the next day. The surgery by Dr. McCarthy, went superbly, so when his right hip became intolerable a couple of years later, he knew where he would go. This time, Dr. Bedair replaced the joint.
“He’s so attentive. He makes you feel like you’re the most important case he’s doing that month,” says Brian.
He explained that the Joint Center runs very efficiently and puts a premium on making sure patients are comfortable and understand everything that will happen to them, from their first appointment to their last.
“All of the staff are very invested in you and your procedure. From pre-op to the operation to recovery to physical therapy, the entire staff was terrific.”
Brian says that in addition to the lack of pain and improved mobility, he treasures finally feeling safe in his own body. Confident, for example that his right knee won’t give out when he climbs the stairs, he is back to walking, biking, swimming and hiking and his favorite activity of all: golf.
The Kaplan Joint Center at Newton-Wellesley Hospital offers patients premium joint services in one convenient location. Through a collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, orthopaedic surgeons work closely with multidisciplinary teams to bring patients a range of services including sophisticated, minimally invasive procedures and resurfacing. The Joint Center team provides superior patient care from diagnosis to recovery featuring the expertise of orthopaedic surgeons with specialized skill sets and highly developed techniques.
The team uses various minimally invasive surgical techniques to do more procedures on an outpatient basis, which leads to decreased recovery time. Surgeons offer arthroscopy - a minimally invasive procedure - as an alternative to open surgery. Arthroscopy involves smaller incisions and decreased recovery time. Surgeons 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 and faster return to regular activities.
Joint Center surgeons have access to state-of-the-art operating rooms with laminar flow and operating room of the future equipment to optimize patient joint surgery outcomes due to better infection control. Patients come to the Joint Center to return to their everyday activities and favorite pastimes – pain free!
Hany S. Bedair, MD Surgeon, Kaplan Joint Center at Newton-Wellesley Hospital Dr. Bedair is board certified in orthopaedic surgery. He received his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Bedair completed an orthopaedic adult reconstruction fellowship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Joseph McCarthy, MD Director and Surgeon, Kaplan Joint Center at Newton-Wellesley Hospital Dr. McCarthy is board certified in orthopaedic surgery. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University Medical School and completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Tufts New England Medical Center and his fellowship in reconstructive joint surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Kaplan Joint Center, Newton-Wellesley Hospital working with Massachusetts General Hospital. For more information, call 855-KNEE-HIP (563-3447) or visit www.nwh.org/jointcenter