Wednesday Apr 30

Fisher House celebrates its 2nd year

Home gives families of recovering veterans a place to stay

By Suzanne Bohan / Bay Area News Group

Donald Thompson walked around with a grin inside the Fisher House on the grounds of the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Tuesday, frequently greeting people and stopping to chat.

"Oh, I'm too shy," he joked, when asked to talk to a reporter about why he was staying at the spacious, colonial-style home. He left Louisiana for the Fisher House in late December, arriving the same day his son, a Marine, entered the traumatic brain injury unit at the VA.

Thompson joined about two dozen other military family members, and a few injured veterans, at an informal luncheon Tuesday to commemorate the second anniversary of the Palo Alto Fisher House's opening. The home houses family members of veterans undergoing treatment at the medical center.

There are now 38 Fisher Houses at U.S. military installations and VA medical centers, and five more are under construction, according to the Fisher House Foundation, which oversees fundraising and construction for the homes. They're then donated to the federal government, which maintains them. The program began in 1990, and has provided lodging to more than 110,000 families.

The two-story Palo Alto house has 21 bedroom suites, a large dining room, an elegant living room with comfortable beige sofas, a well-appointed kitchen with an adjoining family room, and a backyard. There is no charge for residents, who may stay for months providing crucial emotional support for their severely injured or ill soldier or Marine.

Thompson's face lit up when describing the home.

"It's so beautiful here," he said. "It's been a blessing to be with my son."

He now visits his son throughout the day.

"He's just coming around," said Thompson, his expression turning serious. "He waves to me."

It's hard for Thompson to contemplate how he could afford to be near his son without the Fisher House.

"I can't imagine it," he said.

Other families gathered at the luncheon included a couple from Guam, whose military son sustained a traumatic brain injury, and two women whose fathers were undergoing treatment at the VA.

"You can imagine that many of these families spend all the money they have getting here," said Kerri Childress, spokeswoman for the Palo Alto VA, speaking of the hundreds of families who have stayed at the Fisher House since it opened. It's usually full, said another VA spokeswoman.

"And I think we often forget how devastating the impact (of serious injuries or illnesses) is on the family unit," Childress added.

Before the Fisher House opened in 2006, Palo Alto VA employees and others would conduct fundraising drives to help pay for hotel rooms for families visiting veterans, but the money often ran out. The Department of Veterans Affairs can only use its funding to care for vets; it cannot spend funds on non-veterans, such as for hotel rooms. Therefore, it relies on donations and nonprofits like the Fisher House Foundation to provide temporary family housing near VA medical centers.

"I don't think there's been a single thing since the war (in Iraq) began that's had a more positive impact on families than the Fisher House," Childress said.