Santa came to Moorestown early this year.
Cambridge Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center hosted free holiday portraits by Reuben Robinson Photography earlier this month. Event co-sponsors included Bratton Estate & Elder Care Attorneys, Better Homes and Garden Real Estate – Maturo, Legacy Homes Group Real Estate, Life Force 24-Hour Live-in Caregivers and Town Square Adult Day Enrichment Center.
“We have this big, gorgeous, historical building that is really the face of Main Street, and when I came in to do my interview I thought, ‘How beautiful would it be to have your holiday photos taken inside such a gorgeous place?’” recalled Christy Musey, director of community relations at Cambridge.
“I really wanted to get it done,” she added, “and I wanted to get it done because people don’t realize how important having that photo is, especially if there is a potential that somebody in your family might not be with (you) anymore. For people that are here for rehab stays or who will be missing their holiday at home or who aren’t able to leave to take a holiday photo, why should they miss out on that when we can bring it to them?”
This is the first year Cambridge has offered free holiday portraits. The facility provides post-hospital care, short-term rehab and long-term residential care. Its 14-acre campus sits in the heart of downtown Moorestown.
“The actual woodwork itself is beautiful enough to capture, but we’ve decorated it very old-timey to match the decor, and it just looks absolutely gorgeous,” Musey explained. “When (people) walk into the room that we’re having the pictures in, a light goes off, and everybody’s mood lightens and the banter starts and we start talking about old holidays and what it must’ve been like to live in this castle at one time, and how absolutely gorgeous it is.
“It really lightens the mood.”
Robinson also works with Life Force Senior Care, whose specialty is providing live-in caregivers to the elderly. That facility and Cambridge connected for the idea of the free holiday portraits, but since Robinson has his own photography business, he was happy to jump on board.
“I feel like being able to help people remember those important moments in their lives, when they can look back at a really great, high-quality image and it takes them back to that moment in time,” he noted. “I think that’s what it’s really all about.
“The final result (is) putting all this together, where they can look at that image for years to come and remember that exact moment, and that feeling comes rushing back.”
