Her Life’s Work: Alana Shepherd Speaks at Lenbrook

On March 23, Alana Shepherd, one of Atlanta’s most beloved and celebrated women, spoke at Lenbrook to a full audience. She shared how she, along with her husband Harold, their son James, and Dr. David Apple, founded Shepherd Center after James sustained a paralyzing spinal cord injury in 1973.

 

Shepherd Center has grown from a six-bed unit to a world-renowned 152-bed rehabilitation hospital. It specializes in medical treatment, research, and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, and other neuromuscular conditions. 

 

Now, Shepherd Center treats about 900 inpatients, 540 day-program patients, and more than 7,300 out patients each year. Shepherd Center is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 10 rehabilitation hospitals in the nation.

 

Alana’s numerous civic involvements have included serving as former vice president and current member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, the Greater Grady Task Force, and secretary of the board of directors for the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games.

 

In 1989, Alana was the first woman elected to be a member of the Buckhead Coalition, and in 2003 she became the first woman elected as chair of the Coalition. She was also the first woman elected to the board of directors of Genuine Parts and the board of directors of Wachovia Bank of Georgia.

 

To learn more about Shepherd’s Center’s ongoing and important work, click here.