THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 31, 1995 TAG: 9503300155
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
CYNTHIA AND EDWARD HENEGAR are 35 and 37 respectively. Despite their ages, these parents of five are both disabled and out of work.
Each month they count on $435 in Aid to Families with Dependent Children, $369 in Supplemental Security Income, $600 in food stamps and Medicaid health care benefits to make ends meet. The numbers sometimes fluctuate because the AFDC was only recently approved. Before that, the Henegars depended on contributions from family and local churches to get by.
Edward Henegar has emphysema, and Cynthia Henegar is incapacitated from a series of massive heart attacks she suffered soon after the birth of her youngest child. Unable to do anything strenuous, Cynthia Henegar depends on her four daughters - Melissa, 16, Rebecca, 12, Christina, 13, and Alex, 5 - and her 10-year-old son, Robbie, to pitch in and help their dad keep the home tidy.
Cynthia Henegar used to work as a cashier, before her heart attacks. Doctors have told the young mother that her heart problems are hereditary. Cynthia Henegar's mother had four heart attacks at an early age.
Edward Henegar's disability is, the family hopes, temporary. Until January, he worked as a painter but then developed emphysema, possibly from a combination of paint fumes and smoking.
He remains hopeful, however, that he can return to work soon. Whether he can go back to painting is yet to be determined by doctors, and Henegar is trying to quit smoking. Meanwhile, he is thankful for the help his family has received from the welfare system.
When Edward Henegar was hospitalized in January for his lung problems, Medicaid paid the bill. The inhalers and medications doctors ordered were also paid for by Medicaid.
Cynthia Henegar's doctor and medication bills are also paid through Medicaid. Her medical bills are high, with 14 doctor visits yearly and expensive medicines she must have daily.
``If it wasn't for Medicaid, I don't know what I'd do,'' she says. ``I'd hate to see what a cardiologist gets.''
Medicaid also pays for Cynthia Henegar's hospitalizations - 46 in the last five years.
She was born and raised in Roanoke. Until Edward Henegar was 17, he lived in Norfolk. Then his family moved to Roanoke, and that was where the couple met.
They moved to Virginia Beach in 1982 but ``just couldn't make a go of it.'' After four years, they moved back to Roanoke.
``I loved it down here. I cried all the way back to Roanoke,'' Cynthia Henegar recalls.
Three years ago the Henegars came back to Virginia Beach. They live in a three-bedroom townhouse in a neighborhood that used to be crime-ridden, she says.
But two years ago, police made a concerted effort to rid the neighborhood of crime and succeeded, Edward Henegar adds.
The Henegars are happy that they have a safe place to raise their five children and for the help they've received.
``I don't see how we would have made it any other way,'' Edward Henegar says. ``I just want to get back to work.'' MEMO: [For related cover stories, see page 10 and 11 of The Beacon for this
date.]
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
THE FACE OF WELFARE
The Henegar family
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
The Henegar family, also pictured on the cover, counts on Aid to
Families with Dependent Children, Supplemental Security Income, food
stamps and Medicaid. Edward Henegar has emphysema, and Cynthia
Henegar is incapacitated from a series of heart attacks. Left to
right, back row: Rebecca, 12; Robbie 10; Cynthia, the mother;
Edward, the father; Melissa, 16. In front, Christina, 13, and
Alexandria, 5.
KEYWORDS: WELFARE PUBLIC ASSISTANCE by CNB