Empower House opens permanent location in Downtown Davenport, Open House March 28, 2020

DAVENPORT, IA – If you build it, they will come. It may not be a baseball field, but survivors of brain injury are making quality of life home runs benefiting from a new innovative Clubhouse in the Quad-City area. Empower House – A Brain Injury Clubhouse of the Quad-Cities opened its doors to a permanent location this past February. In celebration of March as Brain Injury Awareness Month, Empower House would like to invite the public to their new location on Saturday, March 28 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. The new site is in Downtown Davenport on the third floor of The Redstone Building at 131 West 2nd Street. 

Activities for the open house include tours, refreshments and opportunities to meet and talk to members, staff, founders and volunteers. An expert will also be available for personal consultations about the brain injury waiver and other resources available to brain injury survivors.

The Clubhouse model began in 1948. There are now more than 300 Clubhouses around the world. Empower House is the ninetieth Brain Injury Clubhouse in the United States, the first in the Quad-City area and the first Clubhouse in the state of Iowa.

More than 95,000 Iowans are currently living with long-term disabilities as a result of an acquired brain injury. (BIAIA, 2018). “Many survivors may not be able to return to work after their brain injury, losing a sense of purpose and belonging. Their quality of life and health may decline due to not being active. Empower House keeps survivors active and engaged. It also gives them a purpose and a community of support,” says Michelle Owens, co-founder of Empower House.

“People don’t typically understand them (brain injury survivors) and what they’ve lost and what they still have to offer. They can still be capable of being contributing members of society. We are offering a place and resources for them to do that,” Owens says.

Empower House provides an environment to learn work and life skills. “We have a kitchen unit, maintenance unit and business unit and we do chores in those units. When I come to Empower House, I get to have friends and belong,” says Robert Boyd, member of Empower House.

Amy Sater, another member of Empower House, agrees, “I have friends here. I can come here and be part of something again. We talk, socialize and do tasks together. My favorite hobbies are cooking and baking.” Amy can now do her favorite things, such as future meal planning at the Clubhouse.

Membership to Empower House is open to all brain injury survivors, age 18 and over. The daily activity is organized around a structured system known as the work-ordered day. This is a six-hour period, currently 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays. Empower House is currently working on night hours once a month for those who would like to belong, but are not able to attend during the day.

Future goals of Empower House are to provide members with opportunities to return to employment in integrated work settings through transitional, supported and independent employment programs.

For more information about Empower House, go to empowerhouseqca.org, email empowerhouseqca@gmail.com or call 563-232-1002.