The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Grants $50 Million to Shepherd Center for Family Housing Expansion

Shepherd Center announced a $50-million capital grant from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. The gift will allow the center, a neurorehabilitation hospital, to double its family housing capacity. This benefit will enable more families and caregivers to be close by as their loved ones participate in rehabilitation for spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and other neurological conditions – a critical care difference that positively impacts patient outcomes and lives after discharge.

The grant will support the construction of a new family housing building to be named in Arthur M. Blank’s honor. The expansion will add approximately 160 housing units and construction will begin this fall. The project team includes Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio and Brasfield & Gorrie.

Integrating family into treatment poses a challenge when patients or their families aren’t local to Atlanta, Georgia. Shepherd Center provides up to 30 days of housing to families of newly injured rehabilitation patients if both the family and patient live more than 60 miles from the hospital.

With the average length of stay for patients at Shepherd Center at approximately 60 days and more than 50% of patients and families coming to Shepherd from outside the state of Georgia, this crucial grant from the foundation will expand the number of family housing units, enabling families and caregivers to stay the entire time needed for their loved ones’ rehabilitation at Shepherd Center.

Blank has provided significant support over the years to Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, a program that delivers treatment at no cost to veterans, service members and first responders with traumatic brain injuries. SHARE clients and families also rely on the family housing units during their treatment at Shepherd Center.