AUGUSTA, GA – Walton Rehabilitation Health System has shown a renewed commitment to its brain injury program in recent years, and the Oct. 13 groundbreaking for Walton West Villas, an independent living facility specifically designed for brain injury survivors, helps round out its continuing care program.

Several local dignitaries, including Commissioner Don Grantham and stateRepresentative Barbara Sims, attended the groundbreaking for the new facility, which is located adjacent to the Walton West Transitional Living Center on Bertram Road. The six-unit complex will serve as either a final destination for those suffering from traumatic brain injuries or as the last stop before fully reintegrating into totally unassisted life.

According to Beth Miller, vice president of community services, Walton West Villas residents will have their own independent living apartments, but with the added safety of having the staff of the Walton West Transitional Living Center less than a block away.

“We’re really more of a very supportive landlord,” Miller says.

Because many traumatic brain injury victims also have physical disabilities, three of the six apartments will be wheelchair accessible, with roll-in showers, specially designed kitchens and extra-wide doorways. The other three, though still ADA compliant, will lack the special wheelchair features.

Miller says the new apartments were funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and will therefore allow HUD rent subsidies, making the apartments especially attractive to traumatic brain injury survivors, who often find themselves facing tough economic challenges resulting from the cost of their treatment and the difficulty they have reentering the workforce.

“A lot of individuals will be able to afford to live there who may not be able to afford to live in some of the other apartments that are at regular market price,” Miller says.

The Walton West Villas join 10 other existing Walton properties funded through HUD — seven offering apartments to the physically disabled, three for seniors.

Two additional facilities, including a 15-unit senior living center in Harlem, will join with Walton West Villas to add approximately 30 new units within the six months to the 188 units already operational. Combined, the projects will have brought $17 million to the CSRA in the form of competitive HUD grants, a number that does not include the money used for rent subsidies.

The addition of the dedicated villas comes in the midst of a dramatic increase in Walton’s attention to brain injuries.

“Walton has had a brain injury program for a good many years now, but over the last two years we have really spruced it up,” Miller says. “We’ve added some expertise to it that we had maybe not had before.”

Particularly significant, she says, is the addition of Dr. Jeremy Hertza, who came to Walton less than six months ago to serve as director of behavioral medicine.

“We now have a neurobehavior department, where our neuropsychologist, Dr. Hertza, is building a great program of cognitive retraining,” Miller says.

Because brain injuries are often not easily identifiable, those suffering from memory and cognitive impairments are sometimes more frustrated by their injuries than those with more identifiable physical disabilities.