The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Fisher House, for families of veterans, opens in state
Families of veterans getting care now have place to rest, recharge while visiting VA
WEST HAVEN — A couple of hundred people joined an array of Veterans Affairs and elected officials at the base of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System’s West Haven campus Friday to dedicate Connecticut’s first Fisher House.
The 16-suite, 13,500-square-foot red brick “comfort home,” paid for with millions of dollars in private donations, will provide no-cost lodging — and an instant community — for up to 16 families of veterans and military members receiving treatment at the VA so they can be with their family members during a stressful time.
This is the 76th house the private, nonprofit Fisher House Foundation has built in the United States and Europe — and was given as a gift to the VA at Friday’s dedication ceremony.
The facility will allow family members who live a distance away to be present to provide support, while giving them a secure and private place to rest and recharge after a long day at the hospital, officials said.
Those speaking before the ceremonial ribbon-cutting included Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha, Blue Star mother Susan Strobino, Fisher House Foundation Chairman and CEO Kenneth Fisher, Friends of Fisher House Connecticut volunteer CEO Kevin Creed, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and VA Connecticut Healthcare System Director Gerald Culliton.
U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney, and Jim Himes, both D-Conn., and Mayor Nancy Rossi also attended.
Many were present last April when ground was broken.
“It really is an honor to be here today ...” said Fisher. “Even though it is raining today, I can tell you that the sun will always be shining inside that house.”
He said in prepared remarks, “The Connecticut community really stepped up to make this Fisher House a reality. Supporting our military, veterans and their families is a privilege, but we can’t do it alone ...”
Strobino, who stayed in a Fisher House in the South when her husband returned from a deployment with severe injuries, said, “Today is a wonderful day to see this monumental goal come to fruition.”
When family members learned of her son’s injuries, “We were in shock” and “we were not able to breathe for a comment,” Strobino said. “Our mission was to get to our son,” and Fisher House allowed the family to focus on what was most important, she said.
Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee, drew applause when he said, “Even as we cut the ribbon on this building, we ought to rededicate ourselves to rebuilding” the West Haven hospital facility.
Murphy said the Fisher House and the mobilization to get it built “really represents the best of this state, the best of this country.
“What is the miracle here is that it’s going to serve a bunch of families who would have never called up and asked” for support, Murphy said.
DeLauro congratulated the Fisher House Foundation and the VA on the facility’s completion and said, “The great men and women wounded in the service of our country deserve our admiration and, when needed, our assistance.” Having the Fisher House facility is “a step in the right direction” to ease the burden on their relatives, she said.
Culliton good-naturedly marveled “at how quickly a non-government contracted” project “could rise up out of the ground.” Research shows for veterans receiving care, “having a family member nearby ... helps you heal,” he said.
In addition to the 16 suites, the Fisher House has a kitchen, laundry facilities, a dining area, living room and a space for children to play. The estimated $6 million for construction was 100 percent donated, with operational costs covered by the facility.
Since 1990, Fisher Houses across the nation have provided services to over 335,000 families that have stayed more than 8 million days, saving them a combined $400-plus million in lodging and transportation costs, the VA said in a release.