Yorkshire healthcare company, JRI Orthopaedics displayed its manufacturing muscles in Brussels last weekend during celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of British nurse Edith Cavell.
The manufacturer of orthopaedic implants and surgical instrumentation was one of only a handful of UK companies asked to exhibit at the British Embassy in Brussels during the special commemorative weekend.
The multi-award winning Sheffield firm also received the royal seal of approval from The Princess Royal who was in Brussels to help unveil a bust of Edith Cavell, executed by the Germans during World War One for helping to smuggle Allied troops out of Belguim.
JRI Orthopaedics was founded almost half a century ago by renowned orthopaedic surgeon, Ronald Furlong, and the Princess Royal remembered meeting him when she opened the company’s new ceramic coating plant in Sheffield back in 1998.
Managing director, Keith Jackson commented: “Edith Cavell was a pioneering nurse who helped develop modern medicine in Belguim and we were delighted to be asked to be part of the commemoration events.
“It was lovely that the Princess Royal remembered her visit to JRI all those years ago and she was genuinely interested to hear how we have developed.”
JRI became the first in the world to use a hydroxyapatite ceramic (H-A.C) coating on hip replacements – a synthetic version of the natural mineral present in bones.
By perfecting the coating process, JRI was able to produce an implant that bonds biologically with the patient’s own bone.
The firm’s revolutionary Furlong H-A.C Hip has achieved exceptional clinical results over the past 30 years, with more than 250,000 patients having benefited from the technology, providing them with the realistic prospect of a hip for life.
Based at a world-class manufacturing facility in Chapeltown, JRI has just celebrated a breakthrough deal into the Chinese market and was this month awarded the prestigious Investors in People Gold standard.
