VA is building a second Fisher House
Facility to temporarily house families of sick or injured veterans at no cost set to open in early 2019
With a long waiting list of families visiting sick and injured veterans, VA Palo Alto Health Care System is beginning construction on a second temporary housing facility.
The VA held a ceremony last Monday to announce that a 20-suite Fisher House, dubbed Fisher House 2, will go up beside the first one built in 2006. The ceremony was attended by Fisher House Foundation Trustee Lynne Pace and her husband Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, who served as the 16th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The new facility is expected to open in early 2019 and bring the total available rooms for visiting families to 41.
It’s being funded through corporate and individual donations to the Fisher House Foundation.
Fisher House has housed more than 10,000 families for free since it opened, but the waiting list to get in is usually long.
VA Palo Alto offers vouchers to families who can’t be housed on site so they can stay at hotels, according to VA Palo Alto spokesman Damian McGee.
“I know (the new facility) will make a dent. To what extent I don’t know,” McGee said. “We are pretty sure that second house will be full the moment it opens.”
Average stays are three to five days, but one or two rooms are often taken up by families dealing with loved ones’ severe illnesses or injuries for up to a year in some cases.
The Palo Alto Unified School District “has actually enrolled children of soldiers and vets so they can continue their schooling” through a partnership with the VA, McGee said.
Fisher House 2 will be identical to the existing facility, with one less suite. Fisher Houses feature private bedrooms and bathrooms, a common kitchen, dining room, living room and laundry facilities.
Anyone interested in donating to VA Palo Alto to help house families of sick or injured veterans treated there or in volunteering opportunities can call 650858-3903 or visit https:// www.paloalto.va.gov/ giving/.