New Fisher House will give veteran families place to stay during care
November 13, 2017
When a veteran has to stay at a VA hospital, families often have to make tough calls.
If the hospital is a far commute, they have to decide whether to pay for a hotel or motel near the hospital or be stuck far away when they want to support the veteran during treatment.
“I’ve had people who have gone by Wal-Mart to get a tent and a cot because they didn’t know where they were going to stay,” said David Coker, president of Fisher House Foundation, which provides free homes for veterans’ families who want to be close by during a hospital stay.
A new Fisher House will be added to the foundation’s network at the Dayton VA Medical Center to help families that now might have to make a hard decision.
The $6.5 million project broke ground at the Dayton campus.
The privately-funded project will be supported by the foundation but also by a $1.075 million donation from local real estate developer Randy Gunlock and his wife Vicki and by a community fundraising effort that pulled together more than $650,000.
Cardinal Health, a Dublin-based pharmaceutical wholesaler, presented a check for an $812,000 donation to the Fisher House as part of the groundbreaking ceremony.