Fisher Houses to Open in San Antonio, Honolulu, Landstuhl

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES

02.07.2000

Courtesy Story

Defense.gov         

Two more Fisher Houses in the United States and the first one in Germany are scheduled to open by spring 2001 to provide free lodging for out-of-town families visiting family members being treated at military medical centers.

Fisher House spokesman Jim Weiskopf said the 27th comfort house in the Fisher House network is scheduled to open at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, this fall. It will be the third house at Lackland and will accommodate out-of-town families of pediatric patients at Wilford Hall Medical Center, the Air Force's premier medical facility.

"Fisher House III at Lackland will be a professionally furnished and decorated one-story handicapped-accessible home with 10 living suites," Weiskopf noted. "It will have a common kitchen, laundry facilities, spacious dining room. It will also have an inviting living room, complete with library and toys for children, two activity rooms and an administrative office."

A second house is planned for Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii next year. The first Fisher House built on foreign soil is scheduled to open at the Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, by the spring of 2001, Weiskopf said.

The first two Fisher Houses at Lackland were built in 1992 and 1994. The third home will be built on the fourth corner of a rectangular block where the other two Fisher Houses and the Admiral Boorda Center for Children with Special Needs are located.

"Prior to his death in June 1999, Fisher House founder Zachary Fisher asked trustees of the Fisher House Foundation to consider building a third house at Lackland to support pediatric patients at Wilford Hall," Weiskopf said. Foundation trustees honored his request and added the houses in Hawaii and Germany. The foundation is the nonprofit organization established to carry on Fisher's legacy, he said.

Weiskopf said nearly 40,000 families of patients receiving care at major military and Veterans Affairs medical centers have stayed at Fisher Houses since the first comfort home opened in 1990.

"They saved nearly $30 million over the cost of commercial lodging," he noted. "More importantly, these homes have enabled families to remain together in the midst of a medical crisis, free from financial concerns and able to support a loved on during the healing process." He said the average stay at a Fisher House is 12 days. However, families have stayed from three to 50 days.

More information about Fisher Houses can be found on the Internet at www.fisherhouse.org.

 Fisher House Directory

California

David Grant USAF Medical Center
100 Bodin Circle
Travis AFB, CA 94535
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Kim Briand
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Naval Medical Center, San Diego
Building 46
San Diego, CA 94535
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: David Esposito
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Colorado

Denver VA Medical Center
1055 Clermont St.
Denver, CO 80220-3873
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Jan Chasteen
E-mail address: [e-mail]

District of Columbia

Walter Reed Army Medical Center (2 Houses)
6825 Georgia Ave., N.W.
Washington DC, 20307-5001
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Vivian Wilson
E-mail address: [e-mail]
Web site: www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/fisher/

Florida

West Palm Beach VA Medical Center
7305 North Military Trail, Route 122
West Palm Beach, FL 33410-6400
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Teresa del Rio
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Georgia

Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center
Fisher House Road, Building 280
Fort Gordon, GA 30905-5650
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Manager: Francisco Cruz
E-mail address: [e-mail]
Web site: www.ddeamc.amedd.army.mil/Visitor/FISHER.HTM

Hawaii

Tripler Army Medical Center
315 Krukowski Road
Honolulu, HI 96819
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Kathy Gregory
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Maryland

Malcolm Grow Medical Center
1076 West Perimeter Road
Andrews AFB, MD 20762
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Janet Grampp
E-mail address: [e-mail]

National Naval Medical Center (2 Houses)
24 Stokes Road
Bethesda, MD 20814-5002
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Albert Harrison
Director: Karen Stansbury
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Minnesota

Minneapolis VA Medical Center
One Veterans Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55417
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Managers: Maggie Swenson, Jerry Hanson, Cathy Larson and Janice
Pepperdine
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Mississippi

Keesler Medical Center
509 Fisher St.
Keesler AFB, MS 39534-2599
Phone: [phone]
Fax [phone]
Manager: Larry Vetter
E-mail address: [e-mail]

New York

Stratton VA Medical Center
113 Holland Ave.
Albany, NY 12208
Phone: [phone], ext. 2800
Fax [phone]
Director: JoAnne Saulsbery
E-mail address: [e-mail]

North Carolina

Womack Army Medical Center
12 Bassett St.
Fort Bragg, NC 28307-5000
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Paula Gallero
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Ohio

U.S. Air Force Medical Center (2 Houses)
415 Schlatter Drive
Wright-Patterson AFB, 45433-1144
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Julie Quinn
Assistant Manager: Pat Walters
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Texas

Brooke Army Medical Center (2 Houses)
Building 3623, George C. Beach Road
Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234-6200
Phone: [phone], ext. 101
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Inge Godfrey
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Darnall Army Community Hospital
36000 Darnall Loop
Fort Hood, TX 76544-4752
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Issac Howard
E-mail address: [e-mail]
Web site: www.hood-meddac.army.mil/Fisher/FISHER_home_page.htm

Wilford Hall Medical Center (2 Houses)
2580 Luke Blvd., Building 3810
Lackland AFB, TX 78236
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Earl Falk
E-mail address: [e-mail]

William Beaumont Army Medical Center
5005 North Piedras St.
El Paso, TX 79920-5001
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Harry Hicks
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Virginia

Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth I (Apartments)
313 Green St.
Portsmouth, VA 23704
Phone: [phone]
Manager: Sarah Leonard
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth II (On-Base)
853 Williamson Drive, Building 287
Portsmouth, VA 23708
Phone:[phone]
Fax: [phone]
Manager: Loretta Loveless
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Washington

Madigan Army Medical Center
9999 Wilson Ave.
Fort Lewis, WA 98433
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Manager: Donna Turner
E-mail address: [e-mail]

Story by Rudi Williams, American Forces Press Service

• Date Taken: 02.07.2000
• Date Posted: 07.03.2025 23:27
• Story ID: 526738
• Location: WASHINGTON, US