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“The greatest giftwe can give our patients is
mobility,” says Schoifet. Sometimes the gift is quite
literal. Last winter, two JRI surgeons, Gregory
Klingenstein, M.D., and KarimElsharkawy, M.D.,
volunteered their time, expertise, and JRI’s resources
to give free knee replacement surgeries to two
women throughOperationWalk 2015.
This nonprofit coalition of 55 volunteer orthopedic
surgeons from40 hospitals around the country
provides joint replacement surgeries to patients who
don’t qualify for government assistance, but can’t
afford surgery. One of the beneficiaries was 85-year-
oldHelen Richards, who received the quad-sparing
knee surgery, began rehabilitation the same day, and
was home only two days later.
“The surgery was an answered prayer,” says her
daughter CeliaQuitee. “I sawmymom suffering in
pain…but she had no insurance at all.”
Additional Virtua time and services were donated
every step of theway, including anesthesiology, pre-
and post-surgery care, physical therapy, and home
care. NowHelen can get to the gardening she’s been
wanting to do and fulfill her wish of returning home to
the Caribbean – demonstratingwhy the JRI has
become known as the institute of “I got my life back”
for somany patients fromall over the U.S.
JRI is not only a pioneer inminimally invasive joint
replacement surgery, but it is becoming nationally
renowned for its orthopedic research, which is
entirely funded by philanthropy. Its three studies
were selected from thousands of submitted
abstracts to be presented at highly regarded
orthopedics conferences.
Last November, one of these studies received the
Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons Clinical
Research Award for an outstanding clinical paper in
the field of hip and knee replacement. A six-person
teamof JRI researchers demonstrated that a traditional
Novocaine-type drug, which costs $16, is just as good
at relieving pain after knee replacement surgery as a
newdrug that costs $402 per dose.
“For Virtua to be awarded at this internationally-
recognized event speaks to our dedication to
science,” said Rajesh Jain, M.D., lead author of the
For Virtua to be awarded at this
internationally recognized event speaks
to our dedication to science.
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Rajesh Jain, M.D.