He keeps me safe at night

To continue the theme of doing things a little differently this year, we chose to increase the number of winners for the Jairo Medina award to three; with first, second and third place being awarded to those members of the team who have gone above and beyond during the pandemic.  

The process for nominating support workers stayed the same, with nomination cards sent out to clients and family members of those we care for. The messages of adoration and praise for all three winners was astounding, and another reason why we decided to add these additional awards – it was an almost impossible task for our Advisory Board and Helen Behrens to choose! 

After much deliberation, two incredibly deserving winners were chosen: Brandon Ashford in second place; and Carmen Diaz in third place.  

Brandon, works in our LD team, has formed a tremendous relationship with the client he has been supporting for some time. It has been quite a journey – with some days more challenging than others – but the determination with which Brandon has worked with his client has absolutely changed his client’s life beyond recognition!  

This client nominated Brandon by saying, “ He keeps me safe at night. He is a good man.”  

Carmen, who works within our dementia service, has been a valued member of the SweetTree family since joining us over 7 years ago (where has that time gone, Carmen?!) Before Covid-19, she worked with a wide range of individuals with dementia, however, now has one client she supports regularly.  

A nomination from the wife of the client Carmen cares for reads, “She has improved his quality of life, from the laughter, sense of humour and developing his interests: playing cards, dominoes, other games, reading the daily newspaper together and exchanging ideas. She makes his life fulfilled. He is so happy; he sings and laughs. His health has not declined – instead, has much-improved all thanks to Carmen!“ 

We think you will agree when we say our support workers are our heroes! There are no words to express the level of gratitude we feel for them, but through the Jairo Medina Award, we aim to recognise and showcase the work that they do and the difference that they make to people’s lives.  

You can see all of the nominations for our fantastic team (who are all winners in our eyes!) by clicking the following this link https://youtu.be/ECjKdcVXNnA