Kansas City, MO — Bickford of Crystal Lake’s Executive Director Julie Johnsey was recently honored as one of three nominees for 2023 Executive Director of the year at the company’s annual Pearl Ceremony in Kansas City. As part of the annual awards ceremony, Bickford headquarters sent a video crew to capture Crystal Lake’s residents and resident family members talking about the impact she’s had on them, and why she deserves the recognition. Here’s what they had to say. Congratulations, Julie! We’re proud to have you on our team.

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Brian Henrickson: Julie has been a godsend for me, but also for my mom and uncle. Julie is a very wonderful person and she just makes me feel at home. Even though this isn’t my home, she goes out of her way to make sure, and she goes above and beyond to get things accomplished by everybody.

Maxine Harmon: She’s very good at what she does and everybody around her knows it and have the utmost respect for her. You’re there for me. You help me out, and life is so much better with you around. Especially my aunt and uncle, and when I show up, you treat me like it’s home. I’m honored to be a part of your family.

Bob Reith: She makes you feel like you’re not a real dummy. It feels like you’re a good person and have some memory and some ability to talk. I think she does a really good job. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. And she’s very gracious. You know, she seems like she enjoys her work.

Bob Blazier: She is caring. If you have a problem, she makes sure it gets solved. And the experience living here is really good. She says, marvelous. If I had her in my business, I would have made more money. That’s how important she is. Very young, a good young lady. I think she’s extremely honest, and she doesn’t doesn’t try to snow you. You got a question, it gets answered, and that’s important. Her door is open, you know that if she says come in and sit down, she’s not saying I’ve only got ten minutes. She doesn’t put a timeline on it. She listens. She may even take notes. When you get somebody like me who always comes up with something that they wanna talk about, she’s smiling. And she she looks comfortable here with, an audience of people who are basically twice her age. We appreciate you very much. Both Rosemary and I are happy that we found this place in you.

Mari Swift: I came in, I went to three places and, when I came in here, and I met Julie, it sounds corny, but it felt like home. Julie’s gone out of her way by providing this warmth and this great place for my mom to be, a place my mom wants to be.