Suffolk backs brain-injury group's $9.6M expansion

A not-for-profit group that helps people with serious brain injuries received the backing of Suffolk County Thursday for a $9.6-million expansion project.

Long Island Head Injury Association plans to move its headquarters and day programs to 300 Kennedy Dr. in Hauppauge. It purchased the 50,000-square-foot building last year for $5.7 million, according to property records.

The association now performs the work in two rented buildings on Austin Boulevard in Commack. Seven group homes, where 47 disabled people live, will remain open and could increase by three homes later this year, officials said.

The association also wants to renovate three units at Blue Ridge Condominiums in Brookhaven Town. Two disabled people will live in each unit.

"We serve people who are traumatic-brain-injury survivors -- from car accidents, gun shots to the head, drownings," said Liz Giordano, chief executive of the association, which has 475 clients.

She added, "We coordinate their health services, provide activities and try to get them to do everything we do, except with assistance . . . If we weren't in business, these people would be in nursing homes."

Giordano said the not-for-profit has a yearly budget of $10 million, primarily from New York State agencies. It employs about 150 people who earn a combined total of $6.6 million per year. The expansion is expected to create 20 jobs.

The association won preliminary approval Thursday from the Suffolk County Economic Development Corp. for $9.6 million in tax-exempt bond financing. Nearly $4 million of the money will be used for building renovations; $2 million for equipment purchases, and $3.4 million to refinance outstanding debt.

The association was founded in December 1988 by two sets of local parents of brain-injured teens who met at a group home in North Carolina where their sons were being cared for. The association now is the largest of its kind in New York.

The development corporation's board also preliminarily approved $290 million in tax-exempt bonds for Catholic Health Services of Long Island, operator of six hospitals, three nursing homes and other medical facilities.

Colleen Blye, chief financial officer at Catholic Health Services, said the money would be used to refinance outstanding debt and strengthen finances. The system, which includes Good Samaritan, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Francis and Mercy hospitals, recently had its credit rating upgraded by Wall Street.

David Rosenberg, vice chairman of the development corporation, noted Catholic Health Services is one of Long Island's largest employers. About 18,000 people work for the system, including 10,260 in Suffolk.