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The following articles provide some insight into the stories of veterans' whose families may be served by a Fisher House

 

Brain injuries common for Iraq war vets MSNBC, Wednesday, April 25, 2006 by Robert Bazell, Chief Science & Health Correspondent More injured troops are surviving the war in Iraq than any other. But because of the terrible force of IED explosions, more are surviving with brain injury than in any other war. Read the entire article

New home keeps vets' families close San Mateo County Times, April 20, 2006 Suzanne Bohan Tonia to dread leaving her severely wounded husband's hospital bedside to return to an empty hotel room. Read the entire article

A place to call home Fisher House site opens for VA hospital family visitors Palo Alto Daily News, April 20, 2006 Jason Green A familiar face, voice and a touch - their effects on an injured soldier's recovery can be difficult to measure. Read the entire article

Comforts of Home The Fisher House in Palo Alto provides support and solidarity for families of wounded soldiers San Jose Magazine, April, 2006 Elise Stieren More than 16,000 soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have sustained serious injuries during combat since 2001. Many of these men and women are transported for treatment to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto. Read the entire article

Families of vets get place to stay No more bills for costly hotels for relatives of wounded soldiers San Jose Mercury News, April 19, 2006 Mark Emmons When Tonia Sargent arrived at the Veterans Affairs Medical Hospital in Palo Alto during the fall of 2004, she was under terrible stress. Read the entire article

A one-woman help line San Diego Union, Monday, April 17, 2006 Steve Liewer, Union-Tribune Staff Writer Doubled over with grief on the bedroom floor of her Camp Pendleton home, Tonia Sargent wept at the prospect of news no military wife wants to hear.   Read the entire article

Struggling Back From War's Once-Deadly Wounds New York Times, Sunday, January 22, 2006rady It has taken hundreds of hours of therapy, but Jason Poole, a 23-year old Marine corporal, has learned all over again to speak and to walk. At times, though, words still elude him. He can read barely 16 words a minute.  Read the entire article

Wounded Soldier on Mend Palo Alto Daily News, Wednesday, December 15, 2005 Daniel Velton Several decades ago, the shrapnel that blasted through the side of Jason Poole's head and came out his eye probably would have killed him. Read the entire article

Wounded Vet Stands Tall Again San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, December 24, 2005 C.W. Nevius On the Fourth of May, 2004, Jason Poole was in Iraq. Five days ago, he moved into an apartment. Read the entire article

Groundbreaking celebrates new Fisher House next door to Veterans Affairs hospital San Jose Mercury News, Friday, June 17, 2005 Veterans, service members, fundraisers and hospital staff members gathered outside the Veterans Affairs Medical Hospital in Palo Alto on Thursday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new Fisher House. Read the entire article

Cadence 'Stars & Strikes' Bowling Tournament Raises Over $1.2 Million for Fisher House at Palo Alto VA Hospital Cadence Press Release, Monday, May 16, 20055 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN) (Nasdaq:CDN) today announced that $1,279,000 was raised at its Stars & Strikes® bowling tournament Saturday, with the Fisher House Foundation and the San Francisco 49ers Foundation named as major beneficiaries. Read the complete press release

Bowling Benefits PA Fisher House by Jessie Seyfer San Jose Mercury News, Sunday, May 15, 2005 Raymond Warren has no memory of the entire week that preceded his getting shot by a rocket-propelled grenade last June in central Iraq. But the 23-year-old Marine lance corporal knows for sure that when he came out of a coma that lasted several weeks, his mother and girlfriend were at his side, and they have been a crucial part of his recovery. Without them, "it would have been a lot harder than it was,'' he said.  ace="Verdana" size="2">Read the entire article.

After Iraq, Devastating New Wounds People Magazine, May 9, 2005 Alex Giess is struggling to describe what it's like to do battle with his own mind. To get through the day, the 45-year-old Iraq war vet refers to several typed notes stuck to the doors of his Cannon, Beach, Ore. home... Read the entire article

NASA Ames to Lodge Iraq Vets' Families During Hospital Visits Press Release posted by AMES Research Center, Wednesday March 9, 2005 Relatives of veterans injured in the Iraq War now can stay in NASA Ames Research Center's employee exchange lodging at Moffett Field, Calif., at reduced or no cost, while the families visit injured relatives at a nearby veterans' hospital. Read the complete press release

Cadence Selects "Home Away from Home" for Veterans' Families as Beneficiary of Stars & Strikes Fundraiser Pledge Enables VA Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif to Break Ground on the Fisher House this Spring Press Release posted on Cadence website, Monday February 14, 2005 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN) (Nasdaq:CDN) and the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital in nearby Palo Alto announced today that the Fisher House project at the VA Hospital has been selected as the 2005 recipient of the Cadence® Stars and Strikes® fundraiser. Read the complete press release

Veterans hospital is promised big gift. Expected $1 million donation to be used to help build guesthouse for patients, kin by Dave Murphy, Staff Writer San Francisco Chronicle, Tuesday, February 15, 2005 The Palo Alto Veterans Affairs hospital got what could turn out to be a $1 million gift Monday -- a promised donation that almost certainly will lead to construction of a 21-bedroom Fisher House guest residence for patients and family members.  Read the entire article

KQED Radio California recently aired a great story about our program. Read the transcript

VA Hospitals Overwhelmed with Patients More than 300,000 veterans report outstanding claims by Kevin Corke NBC News Wednesday, January 26, 2005 Twenty-two-year-old Marine Cpl. Visnu Gonzalez was in Fallujah on April 21 when snipers opened fire. He was struck twice and paralyzed from the waist down.  "[The bullet] got my spine and went through the center of my back," he remembers. Read the entire article

Simulations Help Doctors Cut Teeth by Esther Landhuis San Jose Mercury News Sunday, January 16, 2005 Pilots in training must master countless maneuvers on flight simulators before stepping into the cockpit of a loaded 747. But in medicine, new doctors often learn by practicing on real patients. Read the entire article

Iraq War Vets Fight an Enemy at Home Experts say up to 30% may need psychiatric care by Julian Guthrie San Francisco Chronicle Monday, January 17, 2005 The nation's military system is quietly preparing for one of its toughest missions in decades: ensuring that soldiers who return from Iraq get the help they need to deal with the stress and horrors of war. Read the entire article

Comfort, Care Find a Home Peninsula planning 2 hospitals where veterans, families can stay by Dave Murphy San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, January 16, 2005 Marine Cpl. Henry Maldonado's seven months in Iraq ended Sept. 6, when a car bomb in Fallujah fractured his skull, made his brain hemorrhage, punctured both eardrums, wiped out his spleen, left shrapnel in his colon, partly paralyzed his face, and burned his hand so badly that his fingers were fused together. Read the entire article

Wanted: Family Room Money sought to give Palo Alto VA Hospital Visitors a Place to Stay by Nicole C. Wong Mercury News Wednesday, January 5, 2005 Army Spec. Erik Castillo lies stiffly in a bed at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Palo Alto, after an exploding mortar shell in Iraq left him blind and deaf on one side, partially paralyzed on the other, and missing almost half his skull. s_sjmn_010505.html">Read the entire article

More Troops Returning from Iraq with Brain Trauma ABC News, October 6, 2004 More Troops Returning From Iraq With Brain Trauma Soldiers From Iraq Must Undergo Extensive Rehab By JUDY MULLER Oct. 8, 2004 - - War injuries in Iraq are usually obvious - from shrapnel wounds to lost limbs. But one type of wound is not so obvious. In fact, it often goes undetected. ider the case of Army Sgt. Alec Giess, now recovering at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, Calif... Read the entire article

The Fog of War Heather World Nursing Spectrum, November 29, 2004 The patients of Stephanie Alvarez, mind her of her two toddlers: Some need prompting to brush their teeth or use the bathroom; some can follow only simple instructions or answer questions indirectly through long narratives. But these patients are not children. They are soldiers who once executed complex tactical maneuvers and handled dangerous weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan. All suffered some kind of brain injury and are being treated at the traumatic brain injury unit at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto (Calif.) Health Care System, where Alvarez is a nurse manager. More than 1,100 soldiers have been killed in Iraq, but nearly four times as many have been wounded in action and not returned to duty, according to the Department of Defense. Many of those coming home are treated by nurses at military and VA hospitals across the country. Read the entire article

The Fog of War Soldiers from Irag recover from brain injuries at Palo Alto VA Palo Alto Weekly, Wednesday, July 7, 2004 It was like waking from the dead. Rigoberto Oceguera knew not where he was or how he got there. Days earlier he was in a Chinook helicopter shot down by a missile near Fallujah, Iraq. Suffering from a ruptured spleen, burns and a fractured pelvis, Oceguera lay broken and dazed in a Washington D.C. military hospital. Read the entire article

Hidden Casualty Stories NOW with Bill Moyers, Society & Community: The Cost of War June 18, 2004 On December 16, 2003, 1st Sg. Alec Giess, an army combat engineer attached to the 101st Airborne Division, was riding in a convoy on a dangerous stretch of Highway One, just south of Mosul, in Iraq. Suddenly the driver of Giess's truck swerved to avoid what he thought was an improvised explosive device. But in attempting to avoid the danger, the truck ran over an oil slick on the road, spun out of control, and flipped over. Giess was thrown from the vehicle — and the 5-ton truck landed on top of him.  Read the entire article

The Invisible Wound Though high-tech body armor saves lives on the battlefield, more and more troops are suffering traumatic head injuries by Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writer San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Sgt. 1st Class Alec Giess clenched his eyes shut as he struggled to recall how his fellow Oregon National Guardsmen found him after a truck, swerving to avoid a suspected land mine, ejected him onto an Iraqi roadway -- then rolled on top of him. "If my boots weren't sticking out from under the truck, they probably wouldn't have found me. It was like the Wicked Witch of the East in ..." He paused, his face a mask of concentration. "What is that? Oh, yeah, 'The Wizard of Oz.' " Read the entire article