You may want to consider moving the instantiation of the $Word object Outside the sub. This should improve efficiency considerably, since you would use the same instance of Word to open all files.
Of course, if you are opening only one file, it will not matter, but, as a matter of style, you may want to do that anyway, to help someone maintaining your program, who may consider using it differently.
"As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two... "
- Sir Norman Wisdom
