Photograph courtesy of United Prosthetics.
United Prosthetics, with patient care facilities in Dorchester and Braintree, Massachusetts, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The company has been owned and operated by members of the Martino family since its 1914 start by Philip Martino, an Italian immigrant who later patented two prosthetic sockets.
After transitioning his career from shoe repair to prosthetics, Martino and two partners, patients at the prosthetic facility where he worked, opened United Limb and Brace, as it was then called. It was incorporated and renamed United Prosthetics in 1972.
In 1916, United was awarded contracts to manufacture and fit prostheses for World War I veterans, at a time when many of its employees were war veterans and amputees.
Martino’s son, Joseph (CPO), joined the family business in 1945 after serving in the Army Air Service; he was the 95th prosthetist/orthotist to be certified by the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics (ABC).
The company is now run by third and fourth generations of the Martino family-siblings Paul (CP), Mary, Greig (CP), and Gary, and Paul’s son Christopher.
