Raeda Anderson: Shepherd Center from all angles

Raeda Anderson, Ph.D., is a research scientist and lead statistician for the Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute at Shepherd Center. She’s worked here for four years now, but when people ask how long she’s been part of the Shepherd family, her answer is 2012.

Don’t worry, she (really) knows her math.

In February of 2012, Raeda Anderson and her mother, Rose, were injured in a car wreck, with her mom sustaining the most severe injuries — paraplegia due to a complete T-3-to-T-4 spinal cord injury, plus a traumatic brain injury.

Raeda, her dad David, and brother Steve, all stayed at Rose’s side through a four-month tour of Shepherd Center’s ICU, inpatient, and Day Program services. Raeda, a university statistician and adjunct professor of sociology at the time, closely observed how the staff worked with her mother.

The first thing that caught her attention: Less than two weeks after the accident, they helped Rose plan a birthday party for David at Shepherd Center.

“Mama Rose is a hopeless romantic, and that was important to her,” says Raeda. “Even in that fragile time, her therapists understood, and they went out of their way to help make it happen.”  

That type of support would continue. Prayer services came to Mama Rose (as she became known to all) until she was strong enough to go to the chapel. Her favorite physical therapist returned after hours to attend a family dinner that Rose planned one night in the atrium. And everyone made sure that Mama Rose chose the public outings that would mean the most to her.

“Letting her have agency in her own recovery was so impressive to me,” Raeda says. “They made sure she knew that her job was not to go through life post-injury passively. You say what you need, and we’ll figure out how to do it.”

By the time Mama Rose reached Shepherd Center’s Day Program and began to stay in on-site family housing, Raeda had a realization: This was what she wanted to do.

“I decided I wanted to use my analytics to help people like my mom. Her experience drove all my decisions from that point on — my doctorate, my dissertation, my entire career.”

On the first day of her Ph.D. program, a professor asked Raeda what she wanted to do after graduating. “I said I was going to work at Shepherd Center as a research scientist. He asked if I had a backup, and I said, ‘I don’t know what you mean by that,’” Raeda recalls with a big laugh.

In the summer of 2020, Dr. Raeda Anderson’s dream finally came true.

“I definitely didn’t need a new employee tour,” she laughs. “But there were some really beautiful moments in those first days working here. I’d walk into a room and remember, ‘Hey, we had my dad’s birthday party here.’ Or I’d walk past the chapel and think about the first time my mom was strong enough to hold her Bible again.”

In her role, Dr. Anderson examines data related to brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, patient experience feedback, pharmacy usage, and social determinants of health to improve treatment and outcomes for new generations of Shepherd Center patients.

As she puts it: “Any day we come away with actionable insights that can help improve patients’ lives? That’s a good day.”

Dr. Anderson is also the in-house expert on analytics and research methods, so she’s often asked to design or customize research projects — so that Shepherd Center gets the best data possible to help advance patient care.

“In everything I do,” she says, “my North Star is whatever helps people with disabilities thrive in their communities — not simply survive.”

Thriving certainly describes Mama Rose these days. The longtime florist is once again creating large floral arrangements. She’s active in her church. And she and David just celebrated 40 years of marriage; the two take their adaptive motor coach on trips all over the country.

Mama Rose also has a ready companion in Raeda, who bought a house a mile down the road from her parents in rural Hampton, Georgia. Mother and daughter often go out for dinner nights, mani-pedis, camping trips, and the occasional Victorian-costume murder mystery party.

“I didn’t know anything about Shepherd Center when I got here the first time with my mom,” Dr. Anderson says. “But all those things we say about why this place is different? Well, I’ve been on both sides now, and I can tell you, it’s 1,000% true. I love what we do here.”

Written by Phillip Jordan