Kansas City, MO — Bickford of Gurnee housekeeper Miguel Navarro was recently honored as the winner of three nominees for 2023 Bickford Family Member 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 Bourbonnais residents and resident family members talking about the impact he’s had on them, and why he deserves the recognition. Here’s what they had to say. Congratulations, Miguel! We’re proud to have you on our team.

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Pamela Buttera: He’s not afraid to tackle any project. You know, if you have something that needs to get done, he’s always there willing and ready to get it done with you. Just when I first moved in here, he helped me get my room put together and helped me get things put away that I couldn’t reach and stuff like that. You know, and I said I didn’t have to do it on my own, that he, you know, I had someone there to help me out and help me put things away that were tougher for me. He’s always there for you. When you need it, he’ll drop what he’s doing.

Cathy Henkel: When my mom first came here five years ago. Miguel was here, and he has just been a god send to as an employee with the cleanliness. I mean, that’s his job, but he goes so far beyond with that. He’ll take my mom out for a little walk if he has a break. He’ll take the time, sit down with him. He just, he’s like a family member. I feel to all the residents. Like sometimes I see him taking different residents. He’s walking with them outside on a on a beautiful day, and I’m thinking, you know, he’s he cleans here. He doesn’t need to interact, but he does that because that’s what they need. They need cleanliness. But, you know, you need that extra that caring, which is I think what Bickford stands for. We can’t be here all the time. They can’t live with us, but you want someone to really care about your parents. And Miguel is just top notch. Like a family member. If we had all these employees that were like Miguel, life would be wonderful. If we had people that really cared for our seniors like Miguel cares, and I also see him with the younger staff. He’ll take the time and be like, you know, you should be doing this or let’s get so and so up or let’s do a little walk around with them. He encourages the other employees to step up. How could you not give him the award when he encourages the younger staff or if you’re kinda having a bad day, like, come on, let’s get going. You know, let’s let’s do these for these people. So he is a role model. I could see that because he mentors here.

Steve Regotti: Miguel, very, very hard worker. Every time I see him, the guy’s always, working, he’s doing shampooing the carpets or He’s a he’s a hard worker. He helps out in the back too with the people. He’s a really, really solid worker. That’s all I can say. I’ve never seen a guy not doing anything. Sitting around. He takes a lot of pride in his work, and he cares about people. He’s he’s in the right place. I mean, he cares about these people. I can see it.

Cindy Hopkins: You could tell he loves his job. No no doubts about that, and he enjoys helping people. And that’s important in this industry. Miguel does his job so well. I definitely have more time to spend with my father.

Ron Bonk: He’s one that that’ll go out of his way and hope not only do his job, but whatever other things needed to be done.