An inspirational member of staff from one of our Worcester care homes is a finalist in the Worcestershire Health & Social Care Awards.
After discovering he’d been shortlisted for the Care Home Worker Award, Guido Prister, receptionist at Juniper House Residential Care Home in St John’s, feels shocked but delighted.
“I was so surprised I had no idea I’d been nominated,” he says. “I’m so happy and feel very proud. My job is so rewarding - I consider my residents and staff my second family.”
Moving here from Croatia, Guido started working at Juniper in October 2021. He was nominated for the way he enriches the lives of the residents and his colleagues. He regularly comes in on his days off to see the residents and take them out on trips.
Guido adds: “It’s so rewarding to the see the residents’ smiling faces.”
He has organised incredible events, including a ‘virtual carnival’, recreating a Mardi Gras carnival in the heart of the home – he created a ‘passport control’ for the residents to board the plane, where they were greeted by flight attendants with a drinks trolley for a mid-flight tipple, and transformed the lounge into a carnival paradise.
And he is equally as devoted to his colleagues. On a national appreciation day, he baked cakes, brownies, muffins and pain au chocolate for his colleagues, and decorated the home with banners with words of appreciation for them, balloons and decorations.
Guido follows in the footsteps of the home’s housekeeping supervisor Zoe Rira, who won the Care Hero Award 2021, and was crowned overall winner, and Martina Bray, housekeeping supervisor at our nearby Regent Residential Care Home, who won the Care Home Worker Award.
