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Fisher House Program Still Growing After 20 Years
(January 7, 2011) |
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| | BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 4, 2011 – The Fisher House Foundation
isn't basking in past achievements as it prepares to
commemorate the 20th anniversary of the opening of its first
home on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center
here. |
As the first military families move this week
into one of three new Fisher Houses just across
the street from the original, the foundation is
moving full steam ahead on nine more being built
nationwide, many to be completed by the year's
end.
The Fisher House program started as a relatively
modest endeavor, with Zachary and Elizabeth
Fisher donating a home to provide free temporary
lodging for military families while their loved
ones received care at the Navy's flagship
medical center, foundation president Dave Coker
told American Forces Press Service. That
original Fisher House, perched on a hillside
overlooking the towering hospital, opened its
doors June 24, 1991.
Soon the Fishers presented the second Fisher
House, which opened a month later |
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Dave Coker, president
of the Fisher House Foundation, stands in front
of one of three new Fisher Houses at the
National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. |
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on the grounds of the Army's Walter Reed Army
Medical Center in Washington. Within a few short
months, the third opened at the Air Force's
Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. |
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The project snowballed, Coker said. Three Fisher Houses led
to five, then 10. By the time of Zachary Fisher's death in
1999, he and his wife had personally financed more than 20
Fisher Houses.
 The
Fisher House Foundation,
led by the Fishers' grandnephew, Ken Fisher, is keeping
their vision alive.
Today, 53 Fisher Houses grace the grounds of dozens of major
military and Veterans Affairs medical facilities in the
United States and in Landstuhl, Germany. Collectively, they
have served more than 142,000 families since the program's
inception. During 2010, their 651 guest suites accommodated
12,000 families.
With the last of 10 Fisher Houses donated in late 2010 about
to begin receiving families, and more houses under
construction, Coker said, he hopes to see capacity increase
to 16,000 families this year.
Among the newest Fisher Houses is one at Dover Air Force
Base, Del. Coker called it “one of our greatest
achievements,” because of its impact on families of the
fallen. Unlike other Fisher Houses that accommodate families
of hospitalized service members and veterans, the Dover
house serves grieving families as they prepare to witness
the dignified transfer of their loved ones.
“Having the house there lets us how these families how much
we appreciate their loved one's sacrifice. That's No. 1,”
Coker said. “Hopefully, it provides an environment where
they can receive a little bit of comfort.”
Loving comfort always has been at the heart of the Fisher
House mission.
“When you have a loved one who is catastrophically injured
or has died, your world turns upside down,” Coker said. “So
if we can help provide a little stability during that time,
something to make these families' loads a little lighter,
that's our priority.
“This isn't charity,” Coker said, borrowing Ken Fisher's
mantra. “It's our duty, our way of giving back for all that
the military has enabled us to do, and for protecting our
freedoms.”
For the Fisher House Foundation, that mission requires
always looking ahead so it's ready to respond to military
families' needs. For example, three new Fisher Houses were
built here to accommodate an expected surge in demand as the
hospital merges with Walter Reed Army Medical Center later
this year.
“It was very important for us to have these open before
Walter Reed closed,” Coker said. “[Washington] D.C. has
always been underserved, and we wanted to get ahead of the
game.”
One of the new Bethesda houses already is accommodating
families, and another is expected to accept its first
families this week. The third, to be dedicated to families
whose loved ones are being treated at the National Intrepid
Center of Excellence for Traumatic Brain Injuries and
Psychological Health Problems, will house its first families
soon.
Meanwhile, a new Fisher House is being built at Joint Base
Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The foundation will be laid as
soon as the weather allows so the project can be completed
by year's end, Coker said.
Another new Fisher House, under construction at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, will replace the
Nightingale House, which is scheduled to be torn down along
with the aging family housing that surrounds it. Coker said
he hopes to see the new house finished by late March and
dedicated in April.
In addition, several Fisher House projects are under way at
VA medical facilities. While they weren't part of the Fisher
House Foundation's original vision, Coker said, he called
the VA houses a natural extension of the support provided at
military hospitals.
“What we didn't foresee in the beginning was the continuity
that exists between DOD and the VA,” he said. “DOD focuses
on saving the lives, and VA is rehabbing, giving these
veterans back their life and regaining and optimizing their
potential for recovery.
“These young people getting hurt are going to need care
throughout their lives,” he continued. “And so we have a
chance to support them through the VA health care system.”
The Minneapolis VA Medical Center in Minnesota will receive
its second Fisher House in the spring to accommodate
families whose loved ones are receiving Level 1 polytrauma
care.
The initial Fisher House there has eight suites. “But we
understand that on any given night, there are 30 families
making do in hotels,” Coker said. “So getting a house like
this one will better allow them to meet the needs of the
community. We're going to open it as soon as we get it
furnished.”
Also in the April-May time frame, other Fisher Houses are
expected to open at VA medical centers in Washington, D.C.,
and Augusta, Ga.
As these houses take shape, construction is expected to
begin on new Fisher Houses at VA medical centers in Salt
Lake City, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, and Murfreesboro, Tenn.
The Fisher House Foundation also is looking into building a
replacement house in the fall at Fort Bragg, N.C.
While numbers tell the story of the Fisher House
Foundation's growth, one has to step inside a Fisher House
to appreciate fully just how well it delivers on its pledge
to support military families in their time of need.
Fisher Houses aren't simply cozy. They're upscale. When you
open the door, your eyes go in every direction trying to
take it all in: the magazine-quality d�cor, the gleaming
stainless-steel-and-granite kitchens, the attention to
detail in every nook and cranny.
“When somebody walks through the door, we want them to know
there are others who care about them in their time of need,
and we think we achieve that,” Coker said as walked through
one of the new Bethesda houses. “If they walk in and they
can inhale twice, it is going to hopefully make it a little
more manageable when life starts beating them down. And if
there is one thing we have learned, it's that life happens.”
Each new Fisher House incorporates lessons learned from
other houses. Coker remembers visiting one facility and
overhearing several wives discussing using a sheet to carry
a husband who had been released from the hospital to his
wife's upstairs room just long enough to see where she had
been staying.
“You hear that once and you recognize that we can do
better,” Coker said, “and that the right thing is to put in
an elevator and make all the rooms handicapped-accessible.”
Today, all new Fisher Houses now have elevators as well as
wheelchair-accessible rooms and kitchen facilities. The
military services and VA, who manage the facilities after
the Fisher House Foundation turns them over, have renovated
many of the original Fisher Houses to accommodate
wheelchairs.
Coker called their dedicated staffs, along with armies of
volunteers, the unsung heroes who maintain what the Fisher
House Foundation set out to accomplish. They ensure the
pantries and refrigerators are stocked, the rooms are clean
and the washing machines are in working order, complete with
complimentary laundry soap.
And as families gather to share morning coffee or a quick
dinner between hospital visits, they're close at hand, ready
to provide an understanding ear or, when needed, a shoulder
to cry on.
Even after passing control of the Fisher Houses at the
dedication ceremonies, the Fisher House Foundation quietly
maintains contact with its houses by picking up the $10 per
night fee the services must charge by regulation for
families to stay in a Fisher House. This year alone, the
foundation will pay more than $1 million to cover that cost.
The idea, Coker said, is to enable families to forget
everything else and focus on what's most important: their
loved one's recovery.
“I believe Fisher House is something that improved the
quality of health care,” he said. “And the reason it
improves it is you [as a patient] are not concerned about
your family. [Patients] are getting the same world-class
health care, but because they know their families are being
taken care of, the quality of care, in the eye of the
patient and the family, has just increased.”
As the Fisher House Foundation looks ahead to future
projects, Coker said it's working closely with the military
surgeons general and VA to ensure it builds where the
long-term need is greatest.
And as many charities have struggled since the economic
downturn, Coker reports that the Fisher House Foundation has
weathered the storm intact. The foundation doesn't do
direct-mail marketing, yet receives more than $40 million a
year in donations. Last month, its online donations averaged
$400 to $500.
“The American public has been phenomenal,” Coker said. “Part
of it is the model. We are always going to new communities
and bringing something exciting to town. That inspires
giving.
“But the other thing is the tremendous respect that the
American people have for those who serve,” he continued. “We
have a program that focuses on helping people when they need
to most, when their world is turned upside down. And people
appreciate the opportunity to be able to support people at
that point.”
Becky Wood, manager of the five Bethesda Fisher Houses, sees
the families' appreciation firsthand every day.
“Over and over, I have heard families say, ‘I can't believe
somebody who doesn't know us has done this for us' – from
the Fisher House itself, to the bakery items and home-cooked
meals volunteers bring to the families,” Wood said.
“They just can't believe that they are staying here, at no
cost to themselves,” she said. “They're overwhelmed by the
beauty of the home and the spirit of generosity that's
here.”
Wood said she gets tremendous gratification knowing that
Fisher House Foundation and the Fisher House staff and
volunteers are helping fulfill Zachary and Elizabeth
Fisher's dream.
“There's great satisfaction in knowing that we have provided
these families comfort at what might for many of them be the
hardest time they will every have in their life, and hearing
them say thank you over and over again, and know that in
some way, we've made a difference,” she said. | |
Article and photo by Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2011
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