Shepherd Center to Close its Franklin, Tennessee Outpatient Facility

Shepherd Center, the Atlanta-based rehabilitation hospital for spinal cord injury and brain injury, announced today it will cease to operate its outpatient satellite program in Franklin, Tenn.

This October, following a 90-day transition period to serve current patients, Shepherd Center will vacate the space it has leased at 277 Mallory Station Road where it operated the program called “Beyond Therapy®” since 2010. Patient treatment is expected to be completed in late September.

The space formerly housed the WareCentre, which was founded by Scot and Sharon Ware of Franklin. The family gifted the facility and its equipment to Shepherd Center after ceasing to operate their own outpatient program there for people with neuromuscular disorders. Mr. Ware is a former patient of Shepherd Center.

It was the first satellite clinic launched by Shepherd Center.

“The project was an experiment to determine if we could sustain a physical presence in another community,” said Gary R. Ulicny, Ph.D, president and CEO of Shepherd Center.  “Unfortunately despite the best efforts of our Tennessee-based staff, we have not been able to meet our strategic objectives to validate keeping the program open.”

The program is based on the successful Beyond Therapy® model that Shepherd Center built at its Atlanta campus. It is an intense, activity-based program that promotes improved health and wellness, as well as neurological recovery, for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury and other neuromuscular disorders.

Shepherd Center launched Beyond Therapy® in Atlanta in 2005 and has served nearly 300 people from across the nation and from several foreign countries.