Crystal Prather is helping serve a meal, a chore that might seem below her job description as life enrichment director of the Cedar Ridge Health Campus, yet it’s one of her favorite things to do.
“A lot of people are like I don’t want to be a waitress. I’m like I never want to be a waitress either, but these people are family, and I want to wait on them. They deserve that. They deserve to be waited on, and I hope when I’m older somebody will wait on me.”
Crystal, who has worked at Cedar Ridge for five years, serves the residents of the assisted living facility in many ways — by checking in on them daily, organizing shopping trips and forming genuine friendships. She can name all 80-plus residents.
She gets to know the seniors by interviewing them within the first three days of their arrival to learn about their hobbies and habits.
Crystal strives to plan activities that appeal to the collective interests and encourages the seniors to turn out and get involved in the events. In a few days time there was dulcimer playing, a Halloween costume parade by elementary school students and decorating fall pumpkins.
Prather’s connection to Cynthiana started with kiss.com, where she met her husband, Joe Prather, a Cynthiana native, who also sparked her love of classic cars, car shows and cruise-ins.
In 2018, when Crystal was crowned Ms. Cynthiana Rod Run, she was asked what era she could live in if she had the choice. Her response was the 1950s.
In her work and her hobby she celebrates the beauty and richness of age. She respects the residents for who they are each day, knowing they too are classics, each in their own unique way.