31st Fisher House Being Built in Landstuhl, Germany

"When the Fisher family learned that service members injured or wounded in Afghanistan are normally sent to Landstuhl for medical treatment, the foundation's board of trustees decided to begin building a second house there immediately," said Fisher House spokesman Jim Weiskopf.

The first house at Landstuhl, the military's only major medical center outside the United States, was dedicated in June 2001. It has seven bedrooms and several common areas. The second home will have 11 bedrooms and common areas.

More than 120 families have stayed an average of 10 days each in the first Landstuhl Fisher House since it opened, he noted. Relatives of any person eligible for treatment at Landstuhl are eligible to stay at the Fisher House there, Weiskopf said. He noted that DoD civilian employees, school students and teachers, embassy personnel and some other categories of nonmilitary people are authorized to use military medical facilities in overseas areas.

Families using the Landstuhl house are asked to pay $10 a day to help defray expenses. Fees at other Fisher Houses range from free to $15 a night. Many Fisher Houses permit stays of up to 30 days. Local house managers generally can waive fees for humanitarian or financial hardship reasons and can extend stays as long as the patient's care is medically necessary, Weiskopf added.

The Fisher House Foundation has built "comfort homes" near major stateside and overseas military and Veterans Affairs medical facilities since 1991. It builds the facilities and donates them to the military departments and VA, who then operate them.

For more information and a directory of Fisher Houses, visit the foundation Web site at www.fisherhouse.org/.