Mila wins the Jairo Medina Award 2018

The 2018 Jairo Medina Award was presented at SweetTree’s Summer BBQ in August to Adriana ‘Mila’ Milagrosa. The award, in memory of a former staff member who sadly died in 2016, recognises team members who go above and beyond for the people they care for and support.

Mila, who joined SweetTree in March 2015 and loves the variety of her job and the camaraderie among the SweetTree staff, said she felt honoured to receive the award. She said: “This role keeps me humble, to see life from a different perspective and to put myself in another person’s shoes. Above all I enjoy having the opportunity to see people being happy and seeing clients achieving their goals.”

Mila’s nomination

Mila looks after our son two days a week. Since she has become his carer, she has taken him to exceptional heights. Her passion and understanding of his needs and her outstanding commitment to ensuring he reaches his full potential is of the highest quality. She takes him swimming and instead of just letting him have fun in the water, she pushed him to start swimming lengths of the bath. With her encouragement, his swimming improved beyond all recognition. He started coming home with certificates for his achievements, starting with an award for swimming 200m. Within a few months, he had been awarded a certificate for swimming 1500m. Not bad for a person virtually confined to a wheelchair. Mila went the extra mile and enrolled him for the 2018 Swimathon. On a Sunday, outside of her working hours, she joined him at Isleworth swimming bath for him to take part in the Swimathon. They swam 42 lengths of the pool taking just over two hours. He was able to achieve this because of her encouragement and dedication. He also raised over £1000 for Marie Curie. Mila continues to care for him and encourages him to do as much for himself as he possibly can. We feel she truly deserves recognition for her dedication. J & PH, Isleworth