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Shepherd Center Named Model SCI System for Another Five Years
September 29, 2006 Contact: Larry Bowie (404-350-7708) ATLANTA - Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care hospital specializing in the treatment of people with spinal cord and brain injuries, has once again been designated a Model System of Care for spinal cord injury. Since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) has awarded Shepherd Center with this honor. This latest designation comes with a $2.4 million funding award, which begins Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2011. For more than 30 years, Shepherd Center's Spinal Cord Injury Program has helped to restore hope and rebuild the lives of thousands of people who have sustained a traumatic injury or illness that has resulted in temporary or permanent paralysis. The Spinal Cord Injury Model System (SCIMS) funding agency has described the Shepherd Center program as the purest form of a model system for care delivery in existence nationally. Shepherd Center treats a high volume of spinal cord injury (SCI) patients with any level of injury, including those who are ventilator dependent or have a dual diagnosis of spinal cord and brain injury. Shepherd Center also has specialized treatment teams that are dedicated to adolescent patients, senior patients (age 50 and older), and patients who require medical/surgical care. A Model System is a system of care appointed by the federal government to demonstrate exemplary care, serve as a model for other care providers, and perform research, training, education, demonstration and evaluation activities that improve outcomes of care. Studies show that early transfer to a Model System of Care results in decreased lengths of stay, fewer medical complications, and reduced costs of care, in the earliest stages post-injury and long-term. Shepherd Center is the largest of the country's 14 Model Systems of Care for spinal cord injury. The Center has the greatest number of new admissions and outpatient visits of all NIDRR funded facilities. “Shepherd Center's size and volume of new admissions, coupled with its rigorous data collection standards, make it a prime collaborator for SCI research projects,” says Lesley M. Hudson, M.A., Shepherd Center’s SCI Model System Project Director. During the last 10 years, Shepherd Center contributed the largest volume of new admission data to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC). Shepherd Center collaborates with the other 13 SCI Model Systems nationwide in improving patient care, developing and evaluating new medical, rehabilitative and other treatments, researching the course of SCI, and educating patients, family members, health care professionals, and the public on the consequences and management of SCI. To be designated a Model System, a facility must provide: • Emergency medical services The facility must also collect, manage and analyze patient data collected during the acute hospitalization phase and on a regular basis after discharge. Through NIDRR grant money, Shepherd Center has formulated and tested many projects that are now part of programs offered to patients, including: |