James Shepherd Inducted into the National Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame

October 30, 2006

Contact: Larry Bowie (404-350-7708)

ATLANTA - The National Spinal Cord Injury Association inducted James H. Shepherd, Jr., Founder of Shepherd Center. into the SCI Hall of Fame at their Gala on October 30 at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The award was created to recognize individuals who have committed themselves to maximizing the quality of life and opportunities for people with spinal cord injuries. Shepherd received the induction for his contribution to the SCI community as an entrepreneur, creating and operating a business that provides products or services which benefit individuals with SCI.

Shepherd, with the help of his parents Alana and James Shepherd, founded Shepherd Center in Atlanta in 1975. Following his graduation from The University of Georgia in 1973, Shepherd set out on a backpacking trip around the globe. While bodysurfing off the coast of Brazil, a wave crashed into him, throwing his body against the ocean floor and causing a spinal cord injury and paralysis. At the time, there were no rehabilitation hospitals in Atlanta and in the region for this type of injury, so Shepherd went to Colorado for his rehabilitation.

Shepherd Center is the country’s largest catastrophic care hospital specializing in the treatment of people with spinal cord injury and disease, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular disorders and urological problems. Shepherd Center is the largest Model Center for spinal cord injury in the country, one of the largest brain injury programs in Georgia, and an official Multiple Sclerosis Center, designated the National Multiple Sclerosis Society—Georgia Chapter. The 100-bed not-for-profit hospital offers a continuum of health care services, from intensive care through inpatient medical surgical care, rehabilitation, day program, and outpatient and residential services.

About Shepherd Center
Shepherd Center is a private, not-for-profit hospital devoted to the medical care and rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injury and disease, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular problems. Each year Shepherd Center admits more than 700 patients and conducts thousands of outpatient clinic visits. For more information, visit Shepherd Center online at www.shepherd.org.