Max
05-02-2003, 03:55 PM
Shepherd helps people at center
By ABIGAIL SMITH
Published , May 01, 2003, 12:00:01 PM EDT
James Shepherd graduated from the University in 1973, and embarked on a trip to South America to mark that milestone in his life.
While surfing in Brazil, Shepherd had an accident and injured his spinal cord.
After five weeks in a Brazilian hospital, Shepherd was finally stabilized enough to be moved back to the United States, to Piedmont Hospital in his hometown of Atlanta.
Then, he was moved to a care facility in Denver, Colo., that specialized in his kind of injury. Eight months passed between the time of his injury and when he finally returned to his house.
Shepherd has been many things to the University community.
He recently was named one of the Terry College of Business distinguished alumni of the year, and he s an active alum of his fraternity, Chi Phi.
But his life has made an even bigger impact in the medical world.
While Shepherd was recovering -- he now walks with a leg brace and cane -- he also was thinking about the lack of adequate care close to his home.
When Shepherd returned to Atlanta in June 1974, he began kicking around the idea of building something in Atlanta, he said.
And out of that idea grew the Shepherd Center -- the largest catastrophic care center in the nation specializing in spinal cord injuries and severe neurological disorders.
"It all started pretty much as a result of my accident in 1973," he said.
Shepherd said he approached his parents and "bounced the idea off Mom and Dad."
In August 1975, the Shepherd Center opened with six beds in a wing of an Atlanta hospital, and since that time it has been "like a rocket going to the moon," said James' mother, Alana Shepherd.
The center now is wrapping up a $60 million fund-raising campaign and operates 100 beds, looking to add an additional 20 in the near future.
"We didn't mess around," Alana Shepherd said. "We were confident, we thought 'Of course we can do this.'"
The road from surfing to success has been a long one, she said, but "James was always very self-sufficient and independent. He seemed to accept what had happened."
The key to turning the center into the leading facility it is today is caring about each patient individually, said James' wife and
Center employee Linda Shepherd.
"James cares about the future, and he cares about these people," she said.
"He tries to personalize things and make them as less-institutionalized as possible."
The personal touch has brought good to patients' lives despite the circumstances that bring them to the center, Linda Shepherd said.
"Sometimes it really opens their eyes to the world when something catastrophic happens," she said. "People who were undriven are suddenly driven, and their families are so supportive."
Being able to relate to what the patients are going through adds a whole other dimension to patient care that is just "a ton of fun," James said.
"When you watch the families come in here and see the look in their eyes ... and then the joy when they leave, and see that there is still life, even if you are in a chair," he said. "That's just amazing."
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http://www.redandblack.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/05/01/3eb12b268f975
By ABIGAIL SMITH
Published , May 01, 2003, 12:00:01 PM EDT
James Shepherd graduated from the University in 1973, and embarked on a trip to South America to mark that milestone in his life.
While surfing in Brazil, Shepherd had an accident and injured his spinal cord.
After five weeks in a Brazilian hospital, Shepherd was finally stabilized enough to be moved back to the United States, to Piedmont Hospital in his hometown of Atlanta.
Then, he was moved to a care facility in Denver, Colo., that specialized in his kind of injury. Eight months passed between the time of his injury and when he finally returned to his house.
Shepherd has been many things to the University community.
He recently was named one of the Terry College of Business distinguished alumni of the year, and he s an active alum of his fraternity, Chi Phi.
But his life has made an even bigger impact in the medical world.
While Shepherd was recovering -- he now walks with a leg brace and cane -- he also was thinking about the lack of adequate care close to his home.
When Shepherd returned to Atlanta in June 1974, he began kicking around the idea of building something in Atlanta, he said.
And out of that idea grew the Shepherd Center -- the largest catastrophic care center in the nation specializing in spinal cord injuries and severe neurological disorders.
"It all started pretty much as a result of my accident in 1973," he said.
Shepherd said he approached his parents and "bounced the idea off Mom and Dad."
In August 1975, the Shepherd Center opened with six beds in a wing of an Atlanta hospital, and since that time it has been "like a rocket going to the moon," said James' mother, Alana Shepherd.
The center now is wrapping up a $60 million fund-raising campaign and operates 100 beds, looking to add an additional 20 in the near future.
"We didn't mess around," Alana Shepherd said. "We were confident, we thought 'Of course we can do this.'"
The road from surfing to success has been a long one, she said, but "James was always very self-sufficient and independent. He seemed to accept what had happened."
The key to turning the center into the leading facility it is today is caring about each patient individually, said James' wife and
Center employee Linda Shepherd.
"James cares about the future, and he cares about these people," she said.
"He tries to personalize things and make them as less-institutionalized as possible."
The personal touch has brought good to patients' lives despite the circumstances that bring them to the center, Linda Shepherd said.
"Sometimes it really opens their eyes to the world when something catastrophic happens," she said. "People who were undriven are suddenly driven, and their families are so supportive."
Being able to relate to what the patients are going through adds a whole other dimension to patient care that is just "a ton of fun," James said.
"When you watch the families come in here and see the look in their eyes ... and then the joy when they leave, and see that there is still life, even if you are in a chair," he said. "That's just amazing."
E-mail the article Printer-fri
http://www.redandblack.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/05/01/3eb12b268f975