Provail Receives $50,000 Grant From the City of Shoreline

A traumatic brain injury center proposed by Provail was a significant winner this week after the Shoreline City Council gave its unanimous approval Monday to community development block grants for human services.

Out of the $332,578 in community development block grant money doled out by the city for 2012, $50,000 will go to Provail, a Seattle-based non-profit agency for the disabled.

The organization is scouting out existing buildings in north Seattle and Shoreline to remodel and house the brain injury center and the money will go toward the purchase of property.

“Hopefully as soon as possible,” Provail CEO Mike Hatzenbeler said regarding finding a place. “We hope to have something in place by the end of the year.”

Several Shoreline residents, Carl Anderson, Michael Valdivia and Joe Greene, who have suffered brain injuries spoke out in favor of the grant at the Sept. 19 meeting, saying Provail had helped them out.

Provail is proposing two facilities: an eight-room, single-story residential facility and a multistory traumatic brain injury center.

Last year, Provail started the state’s first traumatic brain injury clubhouse, Seattle BrainWorks, at its headquarters, 12550 Aurora Ave. N. If it succeeds in securing funding, Provail would prefer to eventually combine the clubhouse and brain injury center  in Shoreline,  Hatzenbaler said. 

Clubhouses are common in mental health support circles, Hatzenbaler said told Patch earlier this year. The clubhouse model provides a structured day program for people healing from brain injuries. Clubhouse members help each other to learn and re-learn tasks they need to reintegrate into the community.

The brain injury center would provide a range of  services. Those include occupational and physical therapy, counseling, support, case managment and other services for potentially hundreds of people recovering from traumatic brain injuries, including some military veterans, Hatzenbaler said.

Funding for the clubhouse comes from the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury fund, administered by the Department of Social and Health Services. Fees collected from traffic infractions support the fund. A TBI board makes recommendations to DSHS on where to spend the money.

“(Clubhouses) simulate the routine you have in your life when you have a job,” Hatzenbaler said. Such support is vital, he added. Without it, people recovering from serious brain injuries have limited options other than group or nursing homes.

Provail runs a dental clinic, provides direct in-home support, employment services, speech, occupational and physical therapy and computer support groups. It serves more than 1,000 people with disabilities annually.