This past summer Virginia Kunkel moved out of her apartment in Ames into The Households of Bethany after a short stay at Mary Greeley Medical Center. Virginia was a widow at the age of 37 and raised her six children in Cedar Rapids before moving to Ames. Her third daughter, Wendi Reger, was 17 at the time of the move and still lives in Ames today.
Before moving to Bethany Life, Virginia, a diabetic, lived by herself and suffered a mild heart attack in her Ames apartment. Wendi hadn’t heard from her in a while and went to her mother’s apartment and found Virginia fallen on the ground. “Paramedics said she had probably been there a while,” said Wendi. “I looked back at her voicemails, so I had an idea the last time that someone had talked to her. She had probably been there for two days.”
After a brief stint at Mary Greeley, Virginia was placed into Julia’s Place here at The Households of Bethany. Wendi, a fierce advocate for her mother and her care, wanted to make sure that Virginia was in the right place, getting the attention and care that she needed when she needed it. Together, Wendi and the dedicated staff here at Bethany Life found Virginia a room that she could comfortably call home in David’s place. “The people at Bethany are like a big family,” said Wendi. “She won’t remember names, but people walk by her and say hi. She will say she doesn’t know them and I tell her it’s okay they know you.”