Good Shepherd CEO Discusses Career Path, New Rehabilitation Hospital and More on ‘Unscripted With Russo’ Podcast

Michael Spigel, PT, MHA, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network President & CEO, recently appeared on the Unscripted With Russo podcast to share more about his personal and professional background, his impressions of the Lehigh Valley and his vision for the future of Good Shepherd.

On pursuing physical therapy as a career, Spigel told host Ashley Russo:

“Definitely stumbled upon [my career path in health care]. … I think this came out of my habit of reading I just had a lot of interests. I was highly curious. So, I got into college, and I changed my major every semester, I think. One semester, I’m majoring in computer science, and then meteorology and then Scandinavian literature. One semester I wanted to be in library sciences … I stumbled from major to major and it was more out of curiosity.

And then I was in my second year of college, and my father gave me an article about physical therapy. I didn’t know much about physical therapy, but I read the article, and I’m like, ‘This sounds like something that I’d like to do. I’m a pretty active person, I keep in shape.’ Then I decided I’m going to pursue a degree in physical therapy.”

Spigel’s transition from practicing physical therapist to health-care administration was “180 degrees” from he thought he’d end up, he told Russo.

“I intended and thought my direction would be to go back and gain a PhD and teach and do research,” Spigel says. “Which is about as far away from management and leadership as one could imagine — teaching and doing research.”

What brought Spigel from Jacksonsville, Florida, to the Lehigh Valley to lead Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network, a nationally recognized rehabilitation leader?

“When you put that all together — the history, the reputation, the single-minded focus on the work we do and the populations we treat, and then knowing that people are going to have greater needs for our services in the future than they have had in the past — it’s just a great set of ingredients. “

He also talked the future of Good Shepherd, including plans to open a state-of-the-art inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, featuring four floors, 76 private patient rooms and more, in 2023:

“My vision for Good Shepherd is that we continue to be a leader in how we think about the specialization of rehab; continue to be a leader in caring for really complex cases, people who have really serious injuries or illness; grow our presence so we become increasingly a greater regional and national destination site, particularly as we build our new state-of-the-art rehabilitation hospital. … We really intend to triple down on how technology is going to change the lives of people living with disabilities.”

Watch/listen to the full podcast here or below: