Shanghai United Family Hospital marks 15th birthday with expansion

The Shanghai United Family Hospital, the first foreign medical institution in the city, celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, with new branch, new facilities and new team members.

On the eve of the second China International Import Expo, the new branch of the Shanghai United Family Hospital opened, with greatly upgraded facilities.

At No. 699 Pingtang road, Changning District, about 1 kilometer from the original site, the new branch of the hospital serves as a comprehensive international medical institution providing services for the booming Hongqiao Business District. It also made great contributions to medical services for the expo in November. The expo attracted thousands of business people from around the world.

The comprehensive new hospital covers nearly 19,000 square meters, triple the size of the original. Its emergency department is equipped with experienced doctors and nurses, who can handle all kinds of emergency cases for adults and children.

In addition to the emergency department, the hospital has a fever clinic, psychiatric beds equipped with monitoring devices and a dog injury clinic.

Its emergency radiology departments, pharmacies and laboratories are on standby day and night. In addition to Chinese and English, the medical staff from 17 countries also provide 24x7 translation in more than 20 languages.

Shanghai United Family Hospital is one of the few private hospitals in the city with Tesla 3.0T MRI Scanners. The new generation of 3.0T MRIs are research level equipment, which not only comprehensively raises the comfort level of patients, but also greatly improves the quality of clinical images and the speed of formation.

The radiology department of the new hospital is also 24x7, offering CT scans, MRIs ultrasounds and other quick and convenient emergency imaging services.

The imaging room has a high level of imaging technology, equipped with six high-end radiology instruments, X-ray machines, color Doppler ultrasound, CT and other devices. It's able to perform a range of imaging operations from simple to complex, as well as mammographies.

Roberta Lipson, Founder and CEO of United Family Healthcare, said that only a few foreigners knew about the hospital in its early days.

Now, the hospital has come to represent outstanding medical care in Shanghai, attracting tens of thousands of people every year.

Demand has gradually outgrown the original facility, which is now being relocated and expanded so that the hospital can continue to undertake the kind of ongoing development that has made it a frontrunner in the medical business in China’s most populous city.

This year, the hospital has received man newcomers, and orthopedic surgeon Catherine Kellett is one.

Kellett, also the section chief of joint reconstruction, says it's a great opportunity to work in a prestigious, friendly hospital with great facilities and an opportunity to see Shanghai, which has fantastic reputation as a beautiful city. And also to learn more about China and Chinese culture.

After several months in Shanghai, she’s very impressed by how electronically connected the city is and the ease of life here.

“Everybody is very enthusiastic to show me the city and the experiences of nice food. I feel very welcome,” she says.

Kellett is specialized in the joint replacement, such as hip and knee replacements.

“It’s mainly for people who have worn out their joint or have had severe injuries, and who have a lot of pain and disability for joints,” says Kellett. “What we can do is we can replace the damaged part with metal and plastic components, which are specially designed by engineers to replace the joint and will hopefully last for 15 to 20 years to give people better quality of life and the ability to return to sports and activities.”

“What we do during the surgery and even before the surgery is we measure the joints and work out how to fit each patient best. Sometimes we might have to get to special type or a customized artificial joint made for each patient.

“And we also assure all these metal and plastics we use are tested and won’t cause an adverse reaction. So they are safe in the body for a long time."

She also treats people who have minor joint problems, such as minor injuries, and sometimes does keyhole surgeries.

“What I like about United Family Health is that the hospital is able to treat people completely. So we can get somebody and we can get the MR scan on the same day or the following day and then get the results," she said.

“That saves much time because lots of people are very busy working and in their life in general.

She likes the staff working at the hospital and her team.

“It's a very international group of people with a variety of languages and cultures,” she says.

“Everybody is very welcoming and helped show me the Chinese culture and introduce me to lovely food. But also we are glad to have this brand new hospital, which has fantastic environment and so much space.

“It’s not like quickly doing joint replacement. It’s lovely to see how we grow together as a team because it’s not just me doing the surgery, it’s also the nurses looking after the patients, the anesthetists – everyone is working hard to make sure the surgery outcome is good. The physiotherapists continue the job, muscles and and general recovery.

“It’s very satisfying.”

Kellett gets excited when talking about what UFH’s advanced science and technology has brought to medical care in Shanghai.

“You can see your bones been recreated and you can get special reconstruction of the joint using 3D reconstruction technology. That’s the technology to explore in the future,” she told Shanghai Daily.

“But I think what we will do in the future is to use navigation. So we can show where we can accurately place the joint replacement. The engineers have lots to do to position things in correct place. “Hopefully very soon here we will be able to use navigation. You also see surgeons using robots.”