Cheery pictures decorate the walls of Virginia Benche’s home in
the Woodland Estates mobile home park, mirroring her sunny
disposition. Despite a catalog of medical problems, Benche has a
quick wit and an engaging nature, welcoming visitors with her warm
smile.
MORGAN HILL
Cheery pictures decorate the walls of Virginia Benche’s home in the Woodland Estates mobile home park, mirroring her sunny disposition. Despite a catalog of medical problems, Benche has a quick wit and an engaging nature, welcoming visitors with her warm smile.
A former computer operator for General Electric, the grandmother of four had to leave the company when her medical problems began.
“My son had helped me to plan things out while I was still working, so that financially I would be okay, but what we didn’t realize is that I would have so many health problems and need to buy so many different medications,” she said.
With a laugh, Benche, 73, said that she once decided to alphabetize her various medical conditions, “and only had a few letters left over.” She has a heart condition and three different types of arthritis, for starters, she said.
While she is able to walk a little, she spends most of her time in a power wheelchair. And she has lost much of her strength over the years due to illness, so she now can’t do many of the things she always prided herself on doing.
“I did all my own plumbing. I painted. I did yardwork. It’s very frustrating, clench-your-teeth frustrating, that I can’t do it all now,” she said.
What she needs from the community for the holidays is people to help with these chores. She needs help keeping her small yard maintained, and she needs help with some small painting jobs around the house, including the roof of a small shed and the flashing around the roof of the home. She said she would also be happy to have some help from a carpenter, or someone with basic woodworking skills, to fix the frames of her interior doors.
“When I was first getting around, my driving wasn’t very good, and I ended up crashing into the doorways a lot,” she said with a laugh. “I think it might be a good idea to widen the doorways.”
An avid reader who enjoys books by Mary Higgins Clark and Stephen King, Benche said she doesn’t often get out because of all the difficulties it entails. She did go watch her 13-year-old granddaughter perform in the play “Scrooge” at the Community Playhouse this weekend, but she doesn’t do things like that often.
“I think it’s very ironic that while Medicare will pay, dependent upon your deductible, for a power scooter or wheelchair to help you get around, but won’t pay for you to get out of your house,” she joked, referring to the red tape she faced when trying to have a ramp installed so she could roll out of her home. Instead, she had to have an electric lift put in, she said, but she feels for others who may be facing the same problems.
“There might be some who are not as lucky as I am that couldn’t have a lift put in,” she said. “What do they do then?”
Benche said she is very grateful for the Meals on Wheels program, and all the help she gets from her family, but she doesn’t like not being able to do the things for herself that she once could.
“It’s incredibly frustrating, I just wish so much I could still do those things for myself,” she said.”
HOW TO HELP
Anyone interested in helping Virginia Benche is asked to contact Julie Swartz at Meals on Wheels, 888-296-2411, ext. 2.
