Librado wins the Jairo Medina Award 2019

The winner of the third annual Jairo Medina Award has been announced as SweetTree live-in carer Librado Flores. Librado was nominated by his client for ‘making his life a positive experience and being more like a member of the family than a carer’.

Nicki Bones, CEO of SweetTree Home Care Services commented: “Recognising and celebrating the dedication and efforts of our team is of the utmost importance to us at SweetTree. Therefore, each year we ask our clients, their families, co-workers and healthcare professionals to nominate one exceptional SweetTree carer for their outstanding commitment to providing high-quality care.

“All nominations are reviewed by the SweetTree Advisory Board and one carer is selected to receive the award. This year again we have received some very humbling nominations about the work that our team do and the Advisory Board found it incredibly difficult to decide on an overall winner. We congratulate all the nominees and this year’s award winner, Librado, and thank them for all the wonderful work they do.”

The award was established in 2017 in memory of a treasured member of our SweetTree team, 62-year-old Jairo Medina, who died in 2016. Throughout his career, Jairo exuded outstanding levels of care and professionalism, caring for Joe Behrens for five years and becoming an integral member of the Behrens family, who set up the award with SweetTree.

Ron and Helen Behrens said: “After Jairo’s untimely passing, our father wanted to recognise Jairo and to keep his memory alive. Joe had Alzheimer’s Disease and his wish was to remain living in his own home for as long as possible. Jairo made this possible and without Jairo, and the relationship Joe and Jairo had, we believe, he may have had to have been cared for within a residential setting.”