Gaylord Saulsberry of Amherst was impressed with the totally cohesive experience Cooley Dickinson provided him with in its total Joint Replacement Center last December.

"It was a really positive experience."

Mr. Saulsberry had his left knee replaced on Dec. 15, 2008, and says, for major surgery, the experience was remarkably calming, and he notes that the quality of care in the Joint Replacement Center was excellent and the program itself well-designed. "From the very beginning – the invitation, the orientation, the tour of the center – it just put one's mind at ease," he says.

Mr. Saulsberry attended an orientation session and tour of the center several days before his surgery and was put at ease by all the information he received regarding what to expect, the extent of potential complications, the center's work to prevent infections and even an outline of what each of the four days spent in the center would be like. "I knew exactly what was going to happen and who was in charge," he says. (continued)

"I truly, truly think the nursing staff in the Joint Replacement Center are beyond excellence"

Madeline Hunter of Easthampton was an avid runner and an active woman in general until arthritic pain in her right knee began to slow her down about 10 years ago. She stopped running then, but she didn't succumb to joint replacement surgery until last winter, when, at 59, she was using a cane and her mobility was severely impeded.

Madeline decided then – several years after Dr. Jonathan Kurtis of Hampshire Orthopedics first recommended surgery – that her "magical thinking" that the pain could be controlled some other way had to change.

Making the decision to have her knee replaced in Cooley Dickinson Hospital's Joint Replacement Center changed her life. (continued)

“I was totally impressed —not only with the facility but also with the entire staff”

George T. Lewis of Williamsburg has suffered with arthritis for 20 years, and so is all too familiar with the joint replacement process. He’s had his right hip replaced three times, and on April 30, he had his left hip replaced.

During this most recent procedure, he had the distinction of becoming one of the first patients to be operated on in the hospital’s new Kittredge Surgery Center, and he was one of the first to recover in the expanded Joint Replacement Center... (continued)

“It was a very nice experience. You just felt like they wanted to make your stay as comfortable as they could make it.”

Until April 30, 71-year-old Ruth-Alice Laliberte had never spent a night in a hospital —not even as an infant. Ruth-Alice, like her mother, was born at home in the house in Easthampton that she and three previous generations of her family have occupied for over 100 years. Ruth-Alice’s mother was born in the family home as well and also never stayed in a hospital until she was 61.

So it was a big event for Ruth-Alice when she had her left knee replaced at Cooley Dickinson Hospital on April 30 and spent the next week recovering here as well. The experience was a very pleasant one for her, though, and it was made more meaningful by the fact that she was the first person to be operated on in the hospital’s new Kittredge Surgery Center and one of the first three patients to recover in the expanded Joint Replacement Center... (continued)

“It’s that whole attitude of, ‘You’re going to get well,’”

Beth Hewson of Northampton is an athlete who knows a lot about the importance of training. So, last April, when hip X-rays revealed the 55-year-old woman had no cartilage in her right hip joint, and Dr. Henry Drinker recommended a hip replacement, surgery was scheduled, and Beth went into training.

“I wanted to get strong,” she says. “I wanted to be so strong for this.”

Beth did Pilates workouts four to five times a week and bicycled outside and on a stationary bicycle. She also used the elliptical trainer and lifted weights.

She had hoped to lose eight pounds in the effort, too; while that didn’t happen, she knows her work made a difference in her recovery.

Beth’s surgery was October 17, 2005, and in mid-November, she was walking about two miles a day with a cane, and a yoga teacher and practitioner, she was already experimenting with yoga poses... (continued)