Cherry Hill Woman's Costumes Keeps Spirits Up At Nursing Home

CHERRY HILL, NJ — If you walk into Laurel Brook Nursing Home in Mount Laurel, and you see Darth Vader walking around, don't be alarmed. It's just Caryn Maiolino.

Maiolino, of Cherry Hill, is the Activities Director at Laurel Brook Nursing Home in Mount Laurel, one of the first long-term care facilities in South Jersey to be hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I wanted to brighten spirits, to keep residents happy and help with staff morale,” Maiolino said.

So she did what she knows best: she started donning some costumes. Early in the pandemic, news was coming frequently, and there were always new protocols for health centers to follow. Every time a new one came down, Maiolino would mark the occasion with a crazy outfit. She was a paper doll, an angel, the Statue of Liberty and a Tiger Queen, to name a few.

“Instead of freaking out, it was more like, ‘Caryn dressed up today, and now we have a new protocol,” Maiolino said. “I’ve always loved Halloween, and I was a Mummer. I just love to be something different for a day.”

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The costumes have been lighthearted, such as when she dressed up as Marilyn Monroe and re-enacted the famous “flying skirt” scene from “The Seven-Year Itch.”

Maiolino dressed up as a beekeeper and visited with her co-workers asking, “how are my busy bees doing today?” They’ve also been serious, such as the day the first patient of the coronavirus to survive after being put on a ventilator was released from Laurel Brook.

“I wore a Superwoman outfit,” Maiolino said. “I put a lab coat on over it, and I took off the coat revealing the Superwoman outfit.”

It was a symbol of the patient’s heroic struggle and victory over the virus.

Maiolino has worked in tandem with Pastor John Sung, director of Laurel Brook's Korean Community, as well. They’ve dressed up as a pair of Eagles and Smooth Criminals, among other outfits. Once, they came straight from the Roaring 20s, and Sung spent the day walking around in a dress.

“We all told him, ‘hey John, nice legs,’” Maiolino said.

She was wearing a prisoner costume when police arrived for a routine matter one day. Needing to run outside for a second and not realizing what she was wearing, she tore right past the police officers.

“They were looking at each other, and I remembered what I had one. I told them, ‘It wasn't me!’ They were cracking up,” Maiolino said.

Maiolino’s name was submitted to Patch as part of its Hometown Heroes initiative, in which Patch recognizes heroes making a difference in their communities. Together with Ring, we're working to let all your neighbors know about these outstanding people and their stories.

David McDaniels, a previous co-worker, submitted her name, calling people like her “an angel.” Angel or not, Maiolino wants to help people forget about the bad things brought on by the pandemic, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

“If I can touch one person and I got them to laugh, that’s why I do it,” Maiolino said.

That’s why tomorrow, she may come to work dressed as a nun, or a scarecrow, or a bee, or a farmer, or the Easter Bunny, or a casino dealer, or a flight attendant, or Lucille Ball or …. well, you get the idea. It’s not easy to predict what she’ll wear next, but she will help you forget your troubles.

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