Shepherd Center Makes Top 10 Best Rehabilitation Hospitals List

Buckhead’s Shepherd Center has earned high praise from a national publication for its effort to rehabilitate those who have suffered spinal cord injuries and other trauma.

U.S. News and World Report ranked Shepherd Center #9 on its list of the Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation, according to the list released Tuesday. The publication ranks the rehabilitation hospitals through anonymous surveys completed and submitted by physicians in the field. Hospitals with at least five percent of the vote for the last three survey periods make the list, according to Shepherd Center.

The overall report ranks some 5,000 hospitals in 16 adult specialties and places them on a top 50 list for each specialty. Less than three percent of all hospitals made a list for any specialty.

The complete listing from U.S. News and World Report can be read here.

Shepherd Center made headlines in May when a high school senior who had been paralyzed for years was able to walk for his graduation.

Will Hutchins’ therapists at Shepherd Center included him in a trial of a state-of-the-art powered exoskeleton called an Indego, which mimics the movement of human legs.

The Indego is described by Shepherd Center as a “walking Segway;” it is easy to put on, lightweight, and can be worn while the user is in the confines of his or her wheelchair, allowing a safe place to begin and end a walk. Parker Hannifin, the developer of the Indego, says that they hope to be able to sell the devices commercially by the end of the year. Shepherd Center continues to use the device and gather data to help make the Indego’s case to the FDA.

When Hutchins puts on the Indego, the exoskeleton stands him up and lets him walk; slowly but surely, the unstoppable teen and his therapists at Shepherd Center mastered the device and allowed the young man to finally walk again.

The device had not been used outside a clinical setting, but Parker Hannifin graciously allowed Hutchins the opportunity to use the exoskeleton to walk across the stage.