NewBridge on the Charles

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NewBridge on the Charles

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from NewBridge on the Charles, Retirement and care home, 5000 Great Meadow Road, Dedham, MA.

NewBridge on the Charles is a beautiful state-of-the-art continuing care retirement community located on a 162-acre multigenerational campus along the Charles River in Dedham, Mass.

04/27/2026

Cheers and congratulations to last week’s Boston Marathon runners! NewBridge on the Charles residents celebrated Marathon Monday and Patriots' Day as the theme of the monthly Wine Down event.

Hosted by the resident-run Hospitality Committee, Wine Down gives the community a chance to come together for fun, food, and conversation over cocktails and mocktails.

04/24/2026

As part of their Earth Day celebration, NewBridge residents hosted an electronics collection event. The collected items were delivered to Staples for recycling.

"They can reuse almost every single part," said resident Mary Jane Milner, a member of the NewBridge Environmental Committee. "This is a great way for folks to clear out their drawers and closets. It's always amazing to see what shows up."

Collected items included an ice mixer, printers, various keyboards, and decorative lights.

04/23/2026

The art salon is back at NewBridge on the Charles, with multimedia artist Sampson Wilcox exhibiting several of his pieces in Great Meadow Hall. Recently, he took residents through his artistic journey, which included sharing early self-portraits from his high school days and photographs of abandoned urban areas in Worcester, reflecting on his time volunteering as an art teacher with the nonprofit organization Safe Passage in Guatemala and as a mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation, and discussing his career as a graphic designer at MIT.

"I'm not selling paintings all the time as my primary source of income, but I'm grateful to work somewhere with a meaningful purpose," Wilcox said, sharing how he recently finished a two-and-a-half-year project curating an exhibit on the art of vacuum tubes.

He also highlighted his recent solo show at the Belmont Hill School and upcoming projects for the Museum of Printing and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. In addition to creating art, Wilcox said one of his current goals is to continue serving as a mentor for the next generation.

"The rewarding part of that is seeing these young men become even cooler than me," he said.

The art salon was organized by art instructor Olga Shmuylovich.

"I'm very happy to see everyone here," Shmuylovich said to the many residents who visited the gallery. She described Wilcox as "a thinker who looks deeply in observation of cultural connection and connections between time and space," noting his artistic portfolio includes paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, digital media, and more.

04/22/2026

"I really appreciate you taking time from what looks like a wonderful sunny day to learn a little bit about the sun," said Dr. Richard G. French, emeritus professor of astronomy at Wellesley College, during a lecture at NewBridge on the Charles.

Dr. French shared the story of the sun, a yellow dwarf star located approximately 93 million miles from Earth. He talked about astronomers like Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus, why we have leap years, the Northern Lights, and more.

04/21/2026

Things took a turn for the strange with radio broadcaster Frank King, who took NewBridge on the Charles residents on an hour-long tour of 20th-century musical oddities.

The exploration of the bizarre featured parodies by Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, WHDH classics like "The Yaz Song" and "Fly Me to Methuen" by Jess Cain, the country music stylings of Roger Miller including "Do-Wacka-Do" and "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd," and Bob Newhart's "Infinite Number of Monkeys" routine, among others.

04/20/2026

Builders in Massachusetts are leading the nation in adopting Passive House certification. So what is it?

Passive House is a design and construction standard for buildings that dramatically increases energy efficiency while retaining comfort. "The goal is to rigorously control air, heat, and moisture," explained Alexander Gard-Murray, executive director of Passive House Massachusetts, during a recent talk at NewBridge on the Charles.

The presentation was part of the Earth Day Celebration series organized by the resident-run NewBridge Environmental Committee; committee member Terri Union introduced Gard-Murray.

Hebrew SeniorLife has three buildings that have been designed to Passive House standards — 108 Centre Street at Center Communities of Brookline, Leyland Community in Dorchester, and the expansion of our Simon C. Fireman Community in Randolph. Another two are in the planning stages, in Roslindale and Stoughton.

"Hebrew SeniorLife is already all over this," Gard-Murray said.

In the case of multi-family housing, he said, following Passive House guidelines increases construction costs by 2 to 3 percent but reduces overall energy usage by 40 to 60 percent. In addition to increased energy efficiency, Gard-Murray said Passive House design reduces peak energy load, minimizes the potential of mold growth, and can enable buildings to maintain safe temperatures for up to six days without power.

Approximately 20 percent of Passive House buildings in the United States are in Massachusetts.

04/17/2026

Inhale the joy and exhale the oy! Fitness specialist Leah Scarpino discussed the benefits of yoga with the assisted living community at NewBridge on the Charles. Noting that yoga is more than just physical movements, Scarpino said the practice combines asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing techniques), and meditation to improve overall health, reduce stress, increase flexibility, and foster self-awareness. In addition to discussing the eight limbs of yoga, she led residents through some yoga poses, giving them a taste of mindfulness and meditation.

Scarpino recently completed a yoga teacher training at Providence Power Yoga with the help of the NewBridge scholarship program, which is funded through donations from NewBridge residents. "I was very grateful to receive a scholarship from the resident-run scholarship fund. It allowed me to take this course, which will enhance my life forever and ever," she said.

Scarpino was one of 24 employees to receive a scholarship from the NewBridge on the Charles Scholarship Steering Committee last year. Since its inception in 2019, the committee has awarded scholarships totaling $706,000 to 184 employees.

04/15/2026

Following a moment of silence, six members of the NewBridge on the Charles community directly impacted by the Holocaust lit candles to mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The candle-lighters were Holocaust survivor Arnost Neugroschel; Anna Markus, child of a survivor; Charles Small, child of a survivor; Fay Bussgang, wife of a survivor; Charlotte Chase, wife of a survivor; and Sheila Pallay, on behalf of the Jews of Přeštice whose Torah is now in the ark in the Synagogue at NewBridge on the Charles. Small spoke about his experience as a child of a Holocaust survivor and the importance of remembrance, sharing his memories with the community.

"I remember because I grew up with number B6788. You must remember — each one of them is more than a number. They represented a lost generation of mothers, fathers, children, doctors, teachers, plumbers, and artists. They were you and me," he said. "I remember because I grew up with a young woman who escaped a camp and hid in the middle of winter in a snowbank for seven days and seven nights. You must remember because you can enjoy the peacefulness of falling snow and children laughing as they slide down the snow."

The ceremony was followed by a presentation by Marcia Levinson, a pediatric therapist, associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University, and sister of NewBridge resident Sandy Agus. Levinson spoke about the Paper Clips Project. In 1998, students at Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee collected paper clips to represent those killed by N**i Germany during the Holocaust. The paper clips were chosen for their connection to World War II: Norwegians wore them on their lapels as a symbol of resistance against N**i occupation. The students collected more than 30 million paper clips, with 11 million of them housed within a rail car at the Children's Holocaust Memorial at the school. The story of the school project that became a global movement is chronicled in the 2004 Emmy-nominated documentary "Paper Clips."

"The rail car is used as a symbol of hope and as a way to teach children to carry this memory on," Levinson said, noting the project taught about humanity, connection, and meaning in a small town with fewer than 2,000 residents and no Jewish community.

04/14/2026

"If you listen to sports radio, you hear an awful lot of men's health advertising," said Tom Travison, PhD, senior scientist and director of the Biostatistics and Data Science team at Hebrew SeniorLife's Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research. Dr. Travison recently spoke to NewBridge residents as part of a regular series that brings Marcus Institute researchers on campus.

Many of these ads deal with "Low-T," or testosterone levels below the typical range.

"The narrative I confronted when I was right out of grad school is that male menopause is a medical condition we should be seeking to treat. This was popular in endocrinological literature, but much more so in the lay press," Dr. Travison said. He compiled data from four aging studies to examine testosterone production in men as they age.

The studies featured approximately 2,000 men from the United States, Europe, and Australia. They determined a typical testosterone production range of 264 to 916 nanograms per deciliter for healthy men with a BMI under 30. This range remained the same across datasets, with men age 20 to 30 having the same normal range as men age 80 and older. The publication influenced a number of clinical practices, with testing companies adopting the 264 to 916 range as the normal range for testosterone production.

While noting that lower testosterone levels can increase the risk of frailty, affect mood, and impact musculoskeletal health, Dr. Travison said treatments are heavily advertised.

"It's a lot of marketing. There are true, organic reasons why one might want to supplement, but there is also a larger body of, potentially, a solution in search of a problem," Dr. Travison said.

"I don't feel, necessarily, that the treatment is always marketed that way," he said, noting that media coverage of scientific studies and advertisements for treatments both rely on powerful narratives, and that well-meaning depictions of scientific findings are often oversimplified.

04/13/2026

Today, we mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, to remember the victims, honor the survivors, and pay tribute to those who risked their lives to resist N**i persecution. Hebrew SeniorLife is proud to serve many Holocaust survivors across our communities, where many will join with fellow residents, patients, and staff members today for observances of remembrance.

Among them is Orchard Cove resident Edith Bard, who recently shared her story with fellow residents during a meeting of Orchard Cove's Shalom Club.

"I had what you might call a happy childhood, up until March 1938 when Hi**er marched into Austria," Bard said. "I was 14 years old at the time, and two months later, I was no longer allowed to attend public schools with Christian children."

Bard described the months that followed as "bearable," but that all changed on Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, on November 9, 1938. The N**i party came to her home searching for her father. When they couldn't find him, they turned to Edith. "They looked at me and said, 'You, come with us.' My mother started to cry, saying, 'Take me, take me,' and I was very scared," Bard recalled. "I had no idea what they had in mind for me." They forced her to paint antisemitic words and swastikas on Jewish stores in her neighborhood, then poured the leftover paint over her clothes and let her go.

Her brother Harry immigrated to the United States in 1939. Though Bard had a visa, her parents were uneasy about her traveling alone and hoped the family could leave together. When England and France declared war on Germany, her parents put her on a train to Italy to wait for a ship to America.

"Little did I know that I would never see them again," Bard said.

Bard arrived in New York on November 17, 1939, reuniting with her brother. After the war, they searched for their parents. "The Germans kept lists of all the Jewish people they killed in the concentration camps, and we found their names," she said. Her parents, Leo and Amalia, died in May 1942 at the Chelmno concentration camp in Poland.

Now 102, Bard continues to be an active member of the Orchard Cove community — volunteering with Hadassah, knitting blankets for Project Linus, playing ping-pong, and frequenting the fitness center. "I believe that if you want to get old, you have to keep busy," she said.

On this Yom HaShoah, we honor the courage and resilience of survivors like Bard , and we recommit to preserving their stories so that the lessons of history endure.

Address

5000 Great Meadow Road
Dedham, MA
02026

Telephone

+17812349500

Website

http://www.newbridgeonthecharles.org/

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About Newbridge on the Charles

Newbridge on the Charles has set a new standard in senior living, combining luxurious surroundings with exceptional amenities, first-class educational and cultural programming on a lush 162-acre multigenerational campus. Our complete continuum of care includes independent living, assisted living, memory care, rehabilitative services, long-term chronic care, and a Harvard Medical School-affiliated physician practice.