www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY June 2, 2019 8
VA’s Fisher Houses ribbon-cutting
addresses patients’ housing needs
BY ALEX MITCHELL
After years of construction,
two Fisher Houses for military
families have offi cially opened
at the James J. Peters VA Medical
Center in Kingsbridge on
Wednesday, May 22.
The Tudor-style, 13,300
square foot two-story housing
units will provide a total of 32
free, temporary housing suites
for family members and caregivers
of hospitalized veterans
receiving treatment at the VA
facility.
Nationwide, Fisher House
has a total of 84 housing sites;
none of which resemble these
twin, fi rst in the Bronx and the
city, sites.
“We had to change the format
from what we build in Albuquerque,
New Mexico,” joked
Ken Fisher, who’s the chairman
and CEO of the Fisher
House Foundation and a native
Bronxite who wanted these
sites to be ‘uniquely Bronx’ in
design.
The Fisher family spent
years on the Grand Concourse
prior to his family’s move to
Riverdale where Ken “grew
up, went to public school and
played stickball.” That was before
he along others were instrumental
in saving the USS
Intrepid from being scrapped
in the late 1970s and of course
creating his foundation for veterans
and their families.
Photos of that famous aircraft
carrier now hang inside
the two new temporary homes
for veterans’ families along
with an iconic shot of Mike’s
Deli in the Arthur Avenue Retail
Market and many other
city icons.
Those houses also provide
a fully equipped kitchen, spacious
dining room, laundry
room, and luxurious common
living areas and patios for families
of loved ones receiving
treatment.
Joining Secretary of Veterans
Affairs Robert Wilkie’s at
the ribboncutting was ‘Bronx
Tales’ actor, Bronxite Chazz
Palminteri.
“Why do you think I’m
here? It’s for the veterans,
they deserve all the support
in the world,” he said mentioning
how meaningful it is
for himself to see something
like Fisher Houses open in his
home borough.
The VA center can now, with
the hospitality aid of Fisher
Houses, specialize in exoskeleton
research while treating
paralyzed veterans.
Wilkie said confi dently that
a breakthrough in exoskeleton
research that could even repair
spinal parallelization would
likely come from the research
being done in the Bronx.
According to Fisher Houses,
the suites can probably serve
up to 11,680 families annually.
Chazz Palminteri (r) speaking with a Fisher House representative.
One of the two Fisher Houses on the VA’s campus. Photo by Edward Watkins Photo by Edward Watkins
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