Mentor Network, CCS, to open Living Facility for Brain and Spinal Cord Injuired

Author: | Friday February 22, 2008

Teaming with the local community Mentor Network CCS broke ground on the first of its kind facility in Florida.

Leaders from The MENTOR Network, CCS, and the Avalon Park Group along with local community members participated in a ground-breaking ceremony for a first of its kind therapeutic living facility in Orlando, FL in December.

Known for its commitment to the treatment of individuals with brain injuries, the Center for Comprehensive Services (CCS), a partner of The MENTOR Network, announced a new facility that will provide cutting-edge treatment to individuals with both spinal cord and brain injuries.

"The new location will offer intensive therapy services in a community-based setting that allows clients to become more self-sufficient and achieve greater freedom to participate in community life," said Mike Hofmeister, Vice President of CCS.

“CCS-Orlando at Avalon Park will be the first provider in Florida to offer a fully-accessible residential program specially designed to serve individuals with spinal cord as well as traumatic brain injuries,” added Hofmeister. “We chose to establish this new facility at Avalon Park because, as a fully inclusive community, it offers access to a wide variety of amenities.”

Avalon Park, designed by developer Baet Kahli, features schools, restaurants, churches, movie theaters and a variety of retail locations within the community.

“Avalon Park is a development model that places a premium on accessibility and livability,” said Ned Murphy, President of The MENTOR Network during the groundbreaking ceremony in December. “It echoes The Network’s commitment to providing community-based living solutions to people facing a range of challenges and we are proud to be a part of it.”
CCS-Orlando at Avalon Park will offer residential intensive therapy, including occupational and speech therapy as well as dietary services. The center will also provide twenty-four hour nursing care and on-site physical therapy, physician coverage and counseling.

In addition to benefiting from the full complement of therapies available at CCS-Orlando, residents of the program will also have access to all Avalon Park’s amenities, creating more opportunities for community engagement and achieving greater independence.

Since 1977, when CCS first opened the doors at its flagship location in Carbondale, Illinois to today, CCS has grown to become one of the largest and oldest providers of community-based acquired brain injury rehabilitation services in the country. CCS-Orlando at Avalon Park is dedicated to continuing the CCS tradition of providing innovative, quality of life enhancing services and proud to be the first CCS location to also focus on comprehensive spinal cord injury rehabilitation.

“The recent groundbreaking ceremony was a celebration of the vision and hard work behind this project,” said Hofmeister. “With the project now underway, we are one-step closer to providing much needed services to residents of central Florida.”

CCS-Orlando at Avalon Park is scheduled to open in August 2008. For more information on CCS-Orlando at Avalon Park, call Neal Flannery 617-334-3988 or email neal.flannery@thementornetwork.com. The MENTOR Network is a national network of local human services providers that serves thousands of individuals in 37 states.

For more information contact Neal Flannery at 617-334-3988 or at neal.flannery@thementornetwork.com. www.thementornetwork.com.