Federal grant to finance O'Brien House

Congressman Roy Blunt announced that a federal grant has been awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build a 20-unit apartment complex for persons with brain injuries or diseases that impair brain function.

The facility, to be named after Tim O'Brien, who suffered brain injuries as a result of a 1987 car accident, will be constructed in the 1500 block of West Woodland Street in south Springfield, according to a news release from Blunt's office.

Ron Looney is president and director of an annual golf tournament that has raised money to underwrite the grant application for funding of the O'Brien Independent Living Center project.

He said, "This is the culmination of a decade of effort by golfers and the sponsors of the tournament to provide facilities for the care of persons with long-term physical disabilities so they may live as independently as possible."

The $1.475 million grant will help persons with brain injuries and related disabilities to live with independence in the community.

The O'Brien House will include 19 units for persons with physical disabilities incurred as a result of an accidental brain injury or disease that impairs the brain.

The facility also will have an apartment for a resident manager.

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