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HINES VA TO GET FISHER HOUSE FOR FAMILY MEMBERS
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"It benefits patients immensely to have family
here.
But the families need a place to stay."
Story here...
http://www.suburbanchicagonews
.com/couriernews/news/422397,
3_1_EL11_A3HINES_S1.article
Story below:
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VA center to receive Fisher House for family
members
By Jennifer Golz Staff Writer
No one wants to be sick, injured and alone, and no one should have to be
-- especially veterans.
But many are, as veterans are often sent to medical centers hundreds of
miles from their homes to receive specialized care, making it cumbersome
and sometimes cost-prohibitive for family members to accompany them.
Such has been the case at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, adjacent to
the Loyola University medical campus in Maywood, until now.
Hines will be the first VA medical center in the Midwest to receive a
Fischer House; however, the facility isn't slated to open until December
2009, and that's assuming a local goal of financial support for the
center is reached.
A Fischer House is like a Ronald McDonald Home, but specifically for
families of injured veterans. The 21 fully furnished suites planned for
Illinois' first Fischer House will be a "home away from home" for
military families to stay in at no cost while their loved ones
recuperate.
It is the state-of-the-art blind and spinal cord injury centers at Hines
VA that veterans come to for treatment from the country's top doctors
and where they also learn to live with their disabilities.
"At this moment in time, family members have to stay at local hotels in
Maywood and they have to pay for that," said Barb Kemp, 61, of
Naperville, a volunteer at Hines.
"If family members can be supported and brought to a nice place to stay
with their wounded warrior it would make life easier for everyone and
the vet can recover from their wound more quickly," Kemp said.
Their recovery in part would be due to a better emotional and spiritual
outlook, she said.
"If they have their family member there -- their wife, sibling, parent,
children -- that says 'it doesn't make any difference if you walk again,
I love you anyway,' then they can heal faster," Kemp said.
Donald Thomas, a cardiac surgeon at Hines, agrees.
"It benefits patients immensely to have family here," Thomas said. "But
the families need a place to stay. We have nothing to offer them except
for hotel rooms in the area."
Averaging $79 per night, Thomas said, a week's stay at a local hotel
adds up quickly.
At what cost?
With donated land on the Hines VA campus, the Fischer House is expected
to cost as much as $4.5 million to construct.
Although the Fischer House Foundation will fund the capital costs of the
project, the nonprofit organization asks for local contributions to help
meet the bottom line.
Park Ridge-based DMS Pharmaceutical Group is the first corporate sponsor
of Illinois' Fischer House and has committed to raising $1.75 million by
year's end.
With a benefit dinner and silent auction held last month at the Park
Ridge Country Club, the prescription-drug wholesaler is $500,000 closer
to its goal.
Naperville's VFW Judd Kendall Post 3873 donated $500 earlier this year
and has plans to raise more later this year.
"The blind unit and people at Hines do a fantastic job training these
guys that have lost their sight ... to get back into society and lead
productive and happy lives," Cmdr. Mike McGrath said.
"Fischer House will ... give their families a place to stay so that they
can learn how to help the blind guys who have gone through training."
During the past year that Kemp has volunteered at Hines, she's tried to
pay special attention to those veterans whose families cannot be with
them.
"Sundays at this place are awful," she said. "A lot of these guys are
going to die there and they don't have someone to come and play dominoes
or cards with, or sing. It doesn't matter if you feel the war is
appropriate or not appropriate, what is appropriate is that we support
these wounded men and women when they come back."
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Larry Scott --
