Elizabeth and Zachary Fisher (above) funded the first couple of Fisher Houses in 1991. The first was at the Naval Medical Center just outside DC. The second was built at the Forest Glen Annex, a Walter Reed Army Medical Center extension. Soon a proper foundation was founded to make sure there was at least one on every military medical facility.The point of the Fisher Houses is much the same as the Ronald McDonald Houses. They provide free housing for family members of wounded military personnel while they're undergoing treatment. If they had to get a hotel for the weeks or months that a wounded soldier it would easily bankrupt them.
In late 2004 Denzel Washington was visiting Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where he was helping present Purple Hearts. During a tour of the base the Fisher House was explained to him. He did make a large donation but not on the spot and not enough to pay for a whole house as the circulating e-mail claims. Obama's donation will not pay for a whole house either, but a quarter of a million dollars isn't chump change.
These are the two Fisher Houses at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC). They were built in 1996 and 2004. Unfortunately, because of the quantity of soldiers surviving their injuries but still needing ongoing medical care, there is insufficient room at WRAMC to house them all. After filling up the base hotels wounded had to start being kept in the Fisher Houses. Their families could stay, but they had to share a room with their wounded soldier. It was when they had to start moving people into what were condemned buildings that the famous Walter Reed/Building 18 scandal broke. The decision by Congress to close WRAMC led to funding for building repair and upkeep being lost. So Building 18 was open and housing wounded, but it looked like crap. Money has since been reinstated to keep the buildings up.
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