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The caretaker

by Maddie Malhotra
Crystal Langford, the restorative coordinator at Windsor Care Center, leads an aerobics class for nursing home residents called "Move It or Lose It." Crystal started the program in 2007 to help prevent falls among residents. When she is not encouraging residents to move to old tunes like "The Twist," she is overseeing most other aspects of patient care.

With the sound of the Steve Miller Band’s “Stuck in the Middle With You” still playing from a Bluetooth speaker at the front of the Windsor Care Center’s activity room, Crystal Langford weaves through a crowd of residents, bowing to each one to thank them for their dance. She’s wearing Pepto-Bismol pink scrubs that match the streaks of pink in her bright blonde hair; she’s smiling ear-to-ear.

Crystal is the restorative coordinator at Windsor Care Center, but her duties go far beyond what her name tag says.

Though she was given a job at Windsor Care Center on the spot 19 years ago, Crystal at first thought that she would only be around for a short time.

“The residents and staff have kept me here,” she says. “When I moved here it was just me and my two children, so this facility became my family. Most of the people I know here are through the nursing home. Everybody I know is related to the nursing home in some way.”

In an effort to prevent falls among residents, Crystal started an aerobics activity called “Move it or Lose it.” For 30 minutes, she dances along with residents, helping them move their bodies to maintain a range of motion.

The same wrist that she extends to her patients is in a splint. She injured it pulling carpet out of her home, which is across the street from the nursing home.

Crystal’s desire to care for others started at a young age, caring for her single mother with multiple sclerosis. She proudly says her mother was entirely responsible for raising her. “She always said do big things,” Crystal says.

“From 5 years old I was a caretaker, and I hardly knew it,” she says, citing her mother as an inspiration for going into the medical field. She recalls placing sandbags on her mother’s legs and having to perform the Heimlich maneuver when her mother was choking on breakfast cereal.

“You saved my life, Crystal,” she remembers her mother saying.

When Crystal’s 12-hour shift at the nursing home ends, you can still hear her voice for some time after, darting in and out of residents’ rooms to check in and tell them that she loves them.

“I love each and every one of them,” she says with tears in her eyes. “They’re my family. They’re my people. Yeah, they’re my people.”

Ruby Stull, 95, watches intently, moving along to Crystal's motions during aerobics class.
As she makes her way down the hall of the nursnig home at the end of her shift, Crystal plays peekaboo with Juanita Vice, 77, the mother of a longtime friend.
Lilla Mae Sons, 102, tightly grasps Crystal's hand during aerobics class. She is one of the oldest residents in the 144-bed nursing facility.
Crystal leans in to read the television channel listings to a resident after helping set up her cable. "The only thing I don't do around here is maintenance," she jokes. "I can do it, but they try to keep me away from that."
As her 12-hour shift comes to an end, Crystal speaks with Abigail Smith, another staff member, about staff concerns.
After a whimpering puppy lept out of someone's arms, staff members Emily Merritt (from left), Crystal and Amber Brewer look into the next room to make sure it isn't hurt.
Crystal embraces and welcomes Vice to her new room at Windsor Care Center. She was just moving in.
Crystal holds her 1-year-old dog, Alice, in the living room of her home. "She is our life," she said. "My boyfrend asked me why I don't have a sloth dog instead of a Tasmanian devil." A life-size photo of Alice hangs in the nursing home activities office; it is larger than any of the photos of friends and family that hang above her desk.
Crystal relaxes on the front porch of her home after a shift at the nursing home. When Crystal moved to Mt. Sterling from Ashland, she didn't think she would be there long. "I was ready to change, but the Lord put me right across the street," she says, laughing.