This has been a difficult year for everyone, but Sue Wilson has had an especially hard time.
Wilson, 60, said she has been working all her life â mostly in the health care field. But in January, she was working as a kitchen supervisor at the Western Virginia Regional Jail. Sheâd been on the job for just two weeks when she slipped and fell, injuring a knee sheâd had replaced 10 years ago.
It took her five months to find a new job, she said, but in May, she was hired by a local hospital to clean and sterilize surgical instruments. Although many instruments these days are single-use, high-tech equipment such as camera-equipped scopes are used over and over, and must be cleaned by hand each time before theyâre sterilized. When Wilson became ill in July, she was diagnosed with COVID-19, and she said she was told she had been infected by the medical waste she had handled.
Betsy Biesenbach
Special to The Roanoke Times
On paper, Cheerilyn Chapmanâs financial situation looks pretty good. The income she earns from working 60 hours a week as a restaurant delivery driver is enough for her to qualify for a loan on a modest home. Unfortunately, most of the houses in her price range â the decent ones, anyway â donât meet her needs.
Chapman, 50, is the mother of seven children, ranging in age from 9 to 20. And while the 20-year-old is âlearning to fledge,â and pays rent, she said, heâs not ready to be on his own just yet. So for now, they all live together in a rented home with plenty of rooms â as long as you count the large closet that has been turned into a bedroom as one of them.
Betsy Biesenbach
Special to The Roanoke Times
When Andrew, 54, was working regularly, he spent most of his time in sales. But of all the things heâs done, he said, being a cab driver was the most fun.
âI really enjoyed that,â he said.
More than once, he said, he drove passengers to Roanoke Area Ministriesâ RAM House, where they would apply for help with rent, utility bills or medications from the Emergency Financial Assistance Program, which is supported by the Roanoke Timesâ Good Neighbors Fund.
Andrew is also is an avid newspaper reader. When he was still in elementary school, he said, he would regularly read both local daily papers â The Roanoke Times and the Roanoke World-News â before they merged into one. He also enjoys doing the crossword puzzles, he said, and his love of words once helped him win a local Jeopardy contest.