Wisconsin welcomes second ‘home away from home’ for veteran caregivers

A second ‘home away from home’ is coming to Wisconsin to support families of veterans. It’s called the Madison VA Fisher House . “We got a shovel in the ground and we’re getting ready to house up to 16 families every single night there,” said Steven Rose, executive director of Fisher House Wisconsin. Understanding Wisconsin, Together. WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter. Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Email Subscribe The U.S. Air Force veteran said by this time next year, a Fisher House is expected to open near the Madison Veterans Affairs hospital. Rose said out-of-state veterans typically drive to Madison to seek world-class care, especially for lung, liver and cardiac transplants. Now, caregivers and families won’t have to think about paying for food, travel or lodging costs during an already stressful time. “If you look at the basics of VA math, it’s up to $1.1 million in out-of-pocket lodging savings to families traveling to Madison every year,” Rose said. On WPR’s “Morning Edition,” Rose said for families to qualify, they must travel more than 50 miles to the Madison VA hospital. But, he said, that’s not a hard and fast rule. “We know there’s family members who don’t drive at night or during inclement weather,” he said. “If you have a veteran who’s going to be receiving care or be hospitalized, ask for an exception to be made.” More than 303,000 veterans live in Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Rose said that to afford the cost of housing families, Fisher House Wisconsin is privately funded through a partnership with the Fisher House Foundation , the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and private donations. “We gift that house back. It goes on the VA books and then the VA staffs it,” he said. He said the cost to build and maintain the new Fisher House in Madison is about $13 million. Fisher House gains momentum in Wisconsin The Milwaukee VA Fisher House was the 68th of its kind in the nation when it opened in 2016 on the Milwaukee VA Medical Center grounds. To date, it has served 7,300 military and veteran caregivers and provided over 20,000 nights of free lodging. Today, there are more than 100 Fisher Houses around the world. “The average length of stay last year was five days, but that doesn’t paint the story of Lottie Speck, who stayed for 191 straight days,” he said. Speck stayed at Fisher House while her husband, U.S. Army veteran Robert Speck, received treatment at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center. Rose said the number of families staying is due to the national success of Wisconsin VA hospitals. “If a veteran has a spinal cord injury anywhere in the U.S or eastern three quarters, they’re going to get sent to Milwaukee for their initial care,” he said. Rose added that on any given day, out-of-state license plates from Alabama, New Mexico, Texas and Michigan fill up the parking lot at Milwaukee VA Fisher House. “We’ve seen more people wanting to get on board and support families and veterans,” he said. “We even held a wedding in the Fisher House this year because life happens for those families.” Rose said as a veteran himself, he recognizes that time spent in the military can mean doing things alone as you serve. And that’s why he feels veterans deserve a support system in Milwaukee and Madison when they’re receiving medical treatment. Transcript Expand Collapse Transcript Terms of Use Transcripts are provided for accessibility and convenience and may be created using a mix of automated tools and human review. While we strive for accuracy, transcripts may contain errors or omissions and are provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. The audio version is the official record of WPR programming. All transcripts are owned by WPR and protected by U.S. and international copyright law. They are provided for personal, non-commercial use only. You may not reproduce, modify, distribute, or use transcripts for public or commercial purposes without prior written permission from WPR. For permissions, contact [email protected] . Speaker 1 • 00:00 Well it is Veterans Day. Did you know more than 300,000 veterans live in Wisconsin? Actually 303,000, according to Federal Veterans Affairs data. Thousands of them rely on healthcare services from either the Madison or Milwaukee VA hospital. That can come at a cost for families. From free lodging to home cooked meals, Fisher House, Wisconsin is filling that need. This year the organization is expanding its services by finishing a new facility near Madison that’s been in the works for years. On this Veterans Day, we’re joined by Executive Director, Stephen Rose. Stephen, thanks for joining us. Speaker 2 • 00:40 Alex, thanks for having me on. I’m excited to talk about our mission today. Speaker 1 • 00:43 Let’s start with what’s happening in Madison where construction is beginning on a new Fisher house that’s set to support veteran families receiving care at the Madison VA Hospital. Take me through the timeline a little bit. How did this get going? Speaker 2 • 00:57 Yeah, it’s uh this is a project that’s been years in the making. Obviously we just broke ground last Thursday, but this house has been being worked on for seemingly the last decade. You know, it was approved through the federal VA system in 2020. And then it was a frantic search for land. October 17th, I believe it was of last year, the VA finally proffered and you know, had a a formal land acceptance and announcement. And then just last Thursday on the fifth, we got a shovel in the ground and we’re getting ready to house up to you know sixteen families every single night there in Madison, hopefully by this time next year Speaker 1 • 01:32 What kind of impact is this expected to have for the Madison area? You went into the numbers a little bit there about how many people it could help. Speaker 2 • 01:40 Yeah, you know, so we can house up to 16 families every single night, so it’s up to 48 individuals. So if you look at just the basics of it, it’s 5,840 nights of all-inclusive lodging food support. Whatever a family needs as they’re coming in to care for their hospitalized veteran, that’s what we’re providing at that facility. So if you look at the basics of just the VA math on it, it’s up to $1. 1 million And out-of-pocket lodging savings to families traveling to Madison every year Speaker 1 • 02:14 And Madison isn’t the only focus, right? Fisher House uh opened its Milwaukee VA campus about a decade ago. Congratulations, by the way. What this was made possible through a national program. So tell me why Wisconsin needs this resource for its veteran families. Speaker 2 • 02:31 You you hit the nail on the head. You know, so we’ve been doing this for 10 years in Milwaukee. Uh we’ve served over 8,000 families there. And it’s part of a greater network that has 102 houses all around the world. And while Fisher House Foundation focuses on all those houses, Fisher House, Wisconsin, obviously we are very, very focused on supporting our veterans here in Wisconsin. And we have over 300,000 veterans here in the state of Wisconsin. So when we’re looking where veterans are receiving their healthcare, it’s Milwaukee, it’s Tomah, it’s Madison. And the two medical centers where we’re going to have a Fisher House now serve very unique specialties. Milwaukee, which has the spinal cord center, so it’s a spinal cord section of excellence. within the VA system, essentially for the eastern three-quarters of the United States. And then you look at Madison and the amazing specialties they offer in quality of care, everything from liver, lung, and cardiac transplants. to Women’s Clinic, to Oncology, the partnership with UW. That’s a center of excellence really on a national scale for the VA. Speaker 1 • 03