Northridge : Project Headway Holds Open House

Project Headway, a group that runs residential homes for brain-injured adults, has not had an open house in three years but now is a good time for one, said program administrator Patricia Digre.

Sunday’s Autumn Fest Open House will show off the group’s newest facility, a six-person home on Geyser Avenue in Northridge. The home was purchased for Project Headway last year by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Digre said.

Over the summer, HUD also approved the purchase of another Project Headway home on Shirley Avenue. The purchase, as well as an expansion and renovation of the home, should be completed this winter, she said.

Project Headway has asked HUD to buy the two other homes it owns in Northridge and Reseda, which would free the agency from mortgage worries, Digre said.

The clients of Project Headway often fall between the cracks of public assistance. As adults who have suffered severe brain injury from violence, accidents or disease, they do not qualify for help offered to developmentally disabled people.

The agency was created 11 years ago by parents of adult head-injury victims. Medical science was able to save their children’s lives but society didn’t provide the constant care that would be needed.

“We provide lifelong, long-term care,” Digre said. “They need more than a roof and a meal.”

The clients’ Social Security checks pay a portion of the costs of round-the-clock care. To stay afloat, Project Headway must find grants and other kinds of assistance, Digre said. She hope that the open house draws more financial support.

Neuropsychologist Robert Tomaszewski, a Project Headway board member, will give a talk on preventing brain injuries. The open house runs from noon to 3 p.m. at 8431 Geyser Ave. in Northridge. For more information, call (818) 772-1419.