Pursuing Possible
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
For thousands of patients, neurorehabilitation at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center is the difference-maker in a life full of possibility. People come to Shepherd during the darkest time in their lives, and we empower them with unmatched care and compassion to achieve meaningful life beyond injury and illness. To ensure Shepherd remains the premier destination for catastrophic care and rehabilitation, we must increase access and continue to transform the patient and family experience. With your help, more patients and families can receive Shepherd Center’s transformative care that centers as much on clinical excellenceas it does on giving patients confidence and real-world tools to live as independently and pain-free as possible.
You can help our patients and their families pursue new possibilities.
I want everyone to feel life’s beauty like I have.
Jayla is finding herself. She likes to get dolled up and be with friends. But Jayla has had to relearn who she is to discover who she will be.
Following a spinal cord injury, Jayla was insecure because physical changes affect how we see ourselves.
“As time went by at Shepherd, my therapists made everything 100% better.”
She participated in many types of therapy, learning life skills and what she could still achieve. Jayla said the programs she participated in — from “puppy therapy,” where she regained arm strength by brushing dogs, to assistive technology and cooking— helped her recovery.
Jayla soon realized she could do what she loved, like go to school and “get pretty.” It makes sense that she’d want to give others the same confidence she found. She’s considering cosmetology but is open to other possibilities.
When asked what she’d tell others going through challenges, Jayla seems older than her years.
“Patience is key; hard work is key. It won’t be like this forever.”
With renewed confidence, her purpose is waiting.
I have big goals – and inspire others to have them too.
Jason started running when he was 10 and continued through adulthood. Then, he had a stroke and an aneurysm, followed by an arduous recovery.
Jason had an arduous recovery.
“I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, couldn’t do anything."
After transferring to Shepherd Center, his resilience kicked in with the help of his medical team.
Jason walked out of Shepherd. Then he ran. Soon he encouraged others to run. Inspired by his journey and knowing the health challenges Black men face, Jason co-founded Black Men Run. The first members were in Atlanta, but clubs popped up across America and in Europe.
Though his daily focus is getting his kids to their activities, Jason keeps running toward his goals. His next race is The Detroit Free Press half-marathon. Then, he hopes to run a marathon.
Jason also aims to volunteer at Shepherd, assisting in the gym during therapy. Why return?
“I understand how powerful Shepherd was to my recovery. It’s a world-class facility.”
Jason hopes to impart one important lesson. “Don’t give up. Don’t ever quit. You’re strong enough to do it.”
Seeing the world, I saw myself.
Traveling shifts our perspectives about the world – and ourselves. Visiting new places can be intimidating. For those with disabilities, transport, hotels, and accessibility can present additional anxieties.
Caroline came to Shepherd Center after a spinal cord injury and found that confronting her fears opened the world to her.
It started with practice.
“The most helpful thing I did at Shepherd was an outing to Atlanta’s airport. We went through security, got on a plane, and used an aisle chair. Taking the fear of the unknown out of the equation helped my confidence.”
Caroline leveraged her new confidence to travel to Scotland.
“That was a really rewarding trip, just being there with my family and not letting my disability stop me from going. I think I’m stronger having lived with this injury – I can stand up for myself and advocate for myself in ways I didn’t think I could initially. I’ve just regained my life. I’m a much more confident person now.”
Caroline has continued her journey of self-discovery. Where to next? The sky’s the limit.
I bear witness as barriers come crashing down.
After a motorcycle accident, Julia dismissed her dream of a career in medicine.
“I’ve known I wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid. I love science. I love medicine so much. But when my spinal cord injury happened, I no longer had the same capabilities. I gave up.”
After transferring to Shepherd Center, Julia met Dr. John Lin, medical director of the Spinal Cord Injury Program at Shepherd Center. It was the first time she’d seen a doctor in a wheelchair.
“He was rolling down the hallway on his phone while also being able to high-five a nurse on one side and joking with a patient on the other side. I started to understand this is not devastating; it’s just different.”
Julia recalls how the team found many creative ways to help her thrive. Now, she’s a medical school graduate.
And for anyone looking for answers, she has one message: “It is so hard to know that there’s ever sunshine when all you see is a tunnel. But it gets better. It gets so much better.”
After my accident, I made more music. Then I danced with my daughter.
Tom Joiner, a classical musician and conductor, believed his goals were dashed after a spinal cord injury caused paralysis and led to him using a wheelchair for mobility. Tom voiced his doubts, but Shepherd Center staff knew better.
“I conducted a concert at the [Shepherd] gym with about 13 musicians that were all therapists, doctors, and nurses. The whole gym was full.”
Many people on the Shepherd team are trained musicians and took the time to help Tom fulfill a dream that he believed was out of reach.
With that goal accomplished, dancing with his daughter Diana at her wedding was next on his list of goals. Although out of his comfort zone, Tom practiced to participate in the father-daughter dance. Fortunately, all the work paid off, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
“You better not use the words ‘I can’t’ at Shepherd,” Tom said. “Everyone looks at each other and grins and says, ‘You will.’” And he did.
Our Patients Turn “Impossible”
Into “I’m Possible”
A catastrophic injury or debilitating illness can seem like an abrupt end of a story. But where others see the end,
Shepherd Center sees a new chapter. The critical ingredient is the spirit and determination of our
patients guided by our passionate expert staff. Without their heroic commitment and the generous support of
donors to ensure the access to the care that they need, nothing would be possible.
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
Meet Shepherd Center
Since its founding in 1975, Shepherd Center has helped renew the lives of patients with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, and other neurological conditions stemming from a life-altering injury or diagnosis.
Nationally Ranked
U.S. News has ranked Shepherd Center among the top 10 rehabilitation hospitals for 14 years in a row. We're the only freestanding rehabilitation facility in the nation with an intensive care unit and acute medical capabilities under one roof.
Specialty Care
Unlike general rehabilitation facilities with limited resources, limited autonomy, limited specialized experience and limited spirit, we make our patients our family and use the most impactful innovations available. From world-class clinical care, collaboration and research to technology combined with unwavering heart, humor and hope.
Staff Expertise
Our specialization has enabled our staff to develop higher levels of expertise and achieve better results for our patients. Our patient outcomes, such as return-to-home rates and return-to-work rates, are among the best in the United States.
Comprehensive Care
Patients choose Shepherd for our inpatient care, outpatient services, and residential and lifelong support programs. We offer more than clinical care. We treat the mind, body, and spirit, and yet, much of the support we provide patients and their families is not reimbursed by insurance. These value-added services include recreation therapy, patient outings, chaplaincy, extensive family training, family housing, assistive technology, back-to-school programs, and peer support.
Leaders in Research
Shepherd Center is also a world-renowned center for neurological and neurorehabilitation research. We routinely have 75 active clinical studies and collaborate with other leading experts at partner hospitals, research centers, medical schools, and universities around the world.
Accreditation
Shepherd Center is accredited by the Joint Commission and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and is designated as both a Spinal Cord Injury Model System and a Traumatic Brain Injury Model System by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
Pursuing Possible
Advancing Stories and Renewing Lives
Shepherd Center is pursuing our most ambitious campaign yet. We’re adding more beds and buildings; we’re expanding and advancing neurorehabilitation in ways once considered unimaginable. Your generous support will make it possible to transform even more lives.
Transformational Priorities
To continue pursuing all that is possible for our patients and their families, we must strengthen our established foundation and ensure continued excellence into the future – not only as we prepare for 2025, but as we envision what Shepherd must look like in 2035, 2045, and beyond.
Shepherd Center leadership has identified two overarching strategic objectives that we must now address:
Increase Patient Access
Shepherd Center currently turns away several hundred inpatients each year because of limited bed capacity. Similarly, the wait time for many of our outpatient programs is measured in months rather than hours. As such, our first objective is to expand our facilities so that, for decades to come, we can provide access to Shepherd Center’s services for prospective patients when they need our help.
Improve the Patient
& Family Experience
Shepherd’s patient outcomes are widely regarded as industry-leading, but we must continually seek to improve the experience that we provide to both patients and their family members in order to remain the preeminent neurorehabilitation facility in the world. Accordingly, our second objective is to modernize and enhance the services that Shepherd Center provides to both patients and families to ensure that every experience delivers the best possible outcome and the highest level of independence.
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
Working for the Best Outcomes
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
By the Numbers
170 bed goal in 2025 and 200 bed goal in 2030.
From 6 beds in 1975, Shepherd has consistently expanded its bed capacity to meet demand over time.
250-300 patients each year we are unable to serve.
Despite continuous growth, we regularly run out of capacity and know there are so many more patients we could serve.
32% planned increase in inpatient licensed bed
capacity.
Current demand for day and outpatient programs already outpaces our capacity, leading to lengthy wait times.
3,000 patients and more than 10,000 visits per year
to the Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute.
Campaign funds will help centralize the program on the main campus and double the space to accommodate the growing multiple sclerosis patient population.
To remain the world’s premier rehabilitation destination and ensure that every patient and family experience delivers the best possible outcome, we will:
Increase family housing capacity to accommodate families for the full length of their loved one’s stays so they can lend needed emotional support during their stay, and receive training to ensure the best outcomes after discharge
Expand our innovation program by launching the new, dedicated Innovation Institute.
Grow the current fellowship program into the Institute of Higher Learning to train the next generation of healthcare professionals.
Develop an outpatient services navigator program to guide patients through their journey.
Sustain and expand current value-added services that make the world of difference for our patients but are not covered by insurance.
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
Together We Can, We Will
The Pursuing Possible campaign represents Shepherd Center’s most significant and strategic growth since the Shepherd family first conceived of the Center. It will ensure that James Shepherd’s vision of Shepherd Center serving as “the bridge between ‘I can’t’ and ‘I can’” lives on for generations to come.
But we can’t reach our destination without you. Your support of the Pursuing Possible campaign will help accelerate the speed at which we can accomplish our bold vision – to help us create countless more chapters for patients and expand in ways that will further impact the field of neurorehabilitation forever. We can’t accomplish this vision alone, but we can do it together.
To learn more about Shepherd Center’s life-renewing programs, visit Shepherd.org.
Our Patients Turn “Impossible”
Into “I’m Possible”
A catastrophic injury or debilitating illness can seem like an abrupt end of a story. But where others see the end,
Shepherd Center sees a new chapter. The critical ingredient is the spirit and determination of our patients. Without
their heroic commitment to reclaiming their lives, nothing would be possible.
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
By the Numbers
170 bed goal in 2025 and 200 bed goal in 2030.
From 6 beds in 1975, Shepherd has consistently expanded its bed capacity to meet demand over time.
250-300 patients each year we are unable to serve.
Despite continuous growth, we regularly run out of capacity and know there are so many more patients we could serve.
32% planned increase in inpatient licensed bed capacity.
Current demand for day and outpatient programs already outpaces our capacity, leading to lengthy waitlists.
3,000 patients and more than 10,000 visits per year to the Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute.
Campaign funds will help centralize the program on the main campus and double the space to accommodate the growing multiple sclerosis patient population.
The Campaign for Shepherd Center
Pushing for the
Best Outcomes
Increase family housing capacity to accommodate families for the full length of their loved one’s stays so they can lend needed emotional support during their stay, and receive training to ensure the best outcomes after discharge.
Expand our innovation program by launching the new, dedicated Innovation Institute.
Grow the current fellowship program into the Institute of Higher Learning to train the next generation of healthcare professionals.
Develop an outpatient services navigator program to guide patients through their journey.
Sustain and expand current value-added services that make the world of difference for our patients but are not covered by insurance.
Advancing Stories
and Renewing Lives
Shepherd Center is pursuing our most ambitious campaign yet. We’re adding more beds and buildings; we’re expanding and advancing neurorehabilitation in ways once considered unimaginable. Your generous support will make it possible to transform even more lives.
Transformational
Priorities
To continue pursuing all that is possible for our patients and their families, we must strengthen our established foundation and ensure continued excellence into the future – not only as we prepare for 2025, but as we envision what Shepherd must look like in 2035, 2045, and beyond.