Cheryl Benton was sitting in the lobby at the Verde Valley Medical Center this past Thursday afternoon.
She was there for a ceremony to dedicate a brightly ornamented Christmas tree and to recognize the services and volunteers of a regional hospice program, people who give their time to provide assistance when dealing with end-of-life care.
It’s something Benton is intimately familiar with.
It used to be part of her line of work.
Benton said she earned a master’s degree in social work years ago in Ohio and worked with hospice and elder care for years.
It was one thing to work in the field. It was another thing entirely when she ended up needing to use hospice resources herself.
“Hospice took care of my mom at home,” Benton said.
Benton said her mother died three days after the hospice workers came, but that their help was invaluable.
It was also a comfort to have people there to help when going through the incredibly stressful period that comes when a person has to care for a dying family member.
“They still call to check in on my 81-year-old dad,” She said.
Benton said she was grateful to the people who helped her family out when it was time.
“It’s really different when it’s your own mother,” She said.
Benton’s work included working to help integrate hospice care into nursing homes in the early 1980s.
There was resistance at first, Benton said, because people at the time seemed to equate hospice care with a form of euthanasia.
That’s not the truth, Benton said.
She didn’t always want to get involved in that type of work.
“Back in the ’70s I wanted to be a journalist,” Benton said.
Benton ended up at a college that didn’t have a journalism program. She studied geology but ended up working with hospice programs anyway.
“Some people are just born to be caregivers, I suppose,” Benton said.
Still, geology played a role in where Benton is today.
The geology of Sedona and the Verde Valley fascinated her.
“We love to go on trips,” Benton said, speaking of her and her husband. “We figured if we went on a vacation and still liked each other, we’d get married.”
It turns out they did still like each other. And the Verde Valley as well.
“We went to Sedona back before anyone knew that it existed,” she said. “Before they ruined it.”
Today, Benton lives in Camp Verde.
“It’s ranchland and horse country,” she said. “I love it.”
Benton doesn’t have horses herself but she enjoys the atmosphere immensely.
“We don’t have enough land for that, but I’d love to have horses,” she said.
A big camper who enjoys places like Wyoming and Montana, she said she already goes horseback riding wherever she can.
Benton said the next destination is the Oregon coast.
“My husband isn’t really a big beach person,” she said. “But I was able to convince him.”
