![]() ![]() 18, 1975, nearly two years after James’ accident, the Shepherd Spinal Center opened its doors with Dr. But the newly formed board persuaded them that their position in Atlanta, along with local familiarity of James’ story, made the family name a good strategic choice. He set up a lease agreement for six beds with the opportunity to expand.Īt first, Harold and Alana were opposed to having the Shepherd name on the hospital. Apple scouted and found some unused space in a northwest Atlanta hospital. I felt like the perfect opportunity had been dropped in my lap.”ĭr. “I met with them and realized it was exactly what I wanted to do. “A friend of mine gave the Shepherds my name,” Dr. He was just the person the Shepherds were looking for. He had been thinking about opening an inpatient rehabilitation clinic. While the family was well-equipped to mobilize and bring in funding, they needed someone with a medical background and leadership skills to run the hospital.ĭavid Apple, Jr., M.D., was a young orthopedist in private practice in Atlanta, where he also directed the Easter Seals Outpatient Center. “Well, it turns out that somebody was us.” “We all said, ‘Somebody ought to start a hospital,’” recalls Alana Shepherd. Why didn’t Atlanta have a hospital that could serve people across the Southeast? His extraordinary recovery got the Shepherds wondering why their son and others with spinal cord injuries had to travel across the country for high-quality rehabilitation. Incredibly, James walked out of Craig using only a leg brace and a cane. Six months in rehabilitation at Craig Hospital in Denver. Another 10 weeks at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. It was at the Brazilian hospital that doctors determined he was paralyzed from the neck down.Īfter the arrival of his parents, a winding road of recovery began. “It was James’ friend saying there had been an accident, and James was alive.”Īlive yes, but only barely, which is what Alana and Harold Shepherd discovered when they got to the hospital in Rio de Janeiro the next morning. on a Sunday morning,” recalls Harold Shepherd, James’ father. “A parent never wants to get ‘that’ phone call. These were so much more than a series of events they shaped and defined what has become one of the premier specialized healthcare centers in the world.ĭOWNLOAD a timeline of Shepherd Center's history at the link above. A look back at its evolution reveals five moments in time that are both pivotal and catalytic. Shepherd Center, named for the Shepherd family, is now marking 40 years of providing holistic care and hope for people with life-changing injuries. That’s because James Shepherd’s moment ultimately gave rise to a new kind of medical center. ![]() It changed not only the life of a 22-year-old on holiday, but also the lives of thousands of others who would later experience unforeseen trauma of their own. Moments like these arrive with remarkable force. “That’s when I realized I was probably going to drown. “Soon, I could feel water and sand rushing down my throat,” he says. In the seconds that followed, James was hurled again and again by tumbling waves, powerless to resist them. Then he thought: I’ll use my legs to kick off the next wave. ![]() ![]() He thought: I’ll spring off the bottom when the next wave comes. His head tucked under, colliding hard with the sand below. The drop was sudden and deep – about three feet. The moment the wave caught James Shepherd and flung him to the ocean floor changed everything. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |