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Free Lodging For Vet Families Coming To Orlando VA

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
The Florida Channel
The Fisher House starts construction at the Orlando VA Medical Center this month.

The Orlando VA Medical Center breaks ground Wednesday on a place for family members to stay while a loved one is getting treated.

The Fisher House will open in late 2017 with space for 16 families. Those families of veterans being treated can stay at the Fisher House for free, and the foundation even offers donated frequent flier miles.

There are already six Fisher House locations in Florida, and two more are planned in the Tampa area.

Nationwide, the Fisher House Foundation served more than 27,000  families in 2015. The Fisher House foundation said it has saved families $320 million in lodging costs over the last 25 years, and that families have $100 million dollars in aairfare costs by collecting frequent flier miles.

Health News Florida reporter Abe Aboraya works for WMFE in Orlando. He started writing for newspapers in high school. After graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2007, he spent a year traveling and working as a freelance reporter for the Seattle Times and the Seattle Weekly, and working for local news websites in the San Francisco Bay area. Most recently Abe worked as a reporter for the Orlando Business Journal. He comes from a family of health care workers.