EVERY day, when 85-year-old Berenice Benson steps into the lift at her Canberra nursing home, she is transported to New York city.
Photos of the famous skyline cover the elevator walls. For Ms Benson, who spent much of her life travelling Europe, the Big Apple remains the one city she's always wanted to visit.
"I never got to go, it's my dream, I'd love to meet a real New York policeman," she regularly tells staff at Uniting Mirinjani aged care.
"Just the idea of strolling through the streets of New York and asking a policeman for directions to the nearest coffee shop."
The moment Detective Howard Shank of the NYPD surprised Berenice Benson at her nursing home. Photo: Karleen Minney
On Thursday, Ms Benson burst into tears when Detective Howard Shank of the New York Police Department stepped through those same elevator doors - in uniform.
"I don't know about coffee, but can show you where all the best donuts are," Detective Shank told Ms Benson as he surprised her at lunch.
Ms Benson, who has dementia, said she felt about 20 years old again as she embraced the officer, and proudly modelled his blue police cap.
"I never married and I never had children but this excitement, this has been the best day of my life," she said.
The emotional surprise was more than two years in the making, says Jo Sumner, coordinator of leisure and wellness at Uniting Mirinjani.
Since Ms Benson moved from Melbourne to join her brother, John, at the home, Ms Sumner had been searching for a way to bring her New York dream into reality.
After some detective work of her own, she asked a close friend and Australian Federal Police officer Stephen Daniel to get in touch with the New York office.
Within days, the response came: Detective Shank happened to be in Sydney. He could drive down to the capital that very week.
Holding Ms Benson's hand, the decorated officer admitted the request was one of the oddest he'd ever received in his 33 years on the force.
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