April 2023 Employee of the Month: Wheelchair attendant shifts into high gear for elderly couple

When Karen Gillen and her husband got to Miami International Airport with her 83-year-old parents last month for their trip to Indianapolis, they had a lot on their plate. Gillen’s mom needed wheelchair assistance, her dad was hard of hearing, and the only available tickets for her parents were on a flight to Indianapolis eight hours later.

“We were scared about leaving them at the airport, but we did not have a choice,” said Gillen. “We provided them with all the necessary information and ‘what to dos.’”

Luckily for the Gillens, Envoy Wheelchair Attendant Moises Ramon Jimenez was assigned to assist them. After Gillen explained their needs to Moises, he helped her mother into her wheelchair and said, “Let me take care of you and get you where you need to be.”

As Moises walked them through security and to their parents’ gate, Gillen explained to him the many concerns she had about leaving her parents behind amid the hustle and bustle of MIA’s busy Concourse D. After Moises showed the Gillens where their departure gate was as well, he explained that he had other job responsibilities to handle at that time, but he would be back in an hour to check on them. Within 45 minutes, Moises was back with an update – he had to load them and their bags up because both of their gates had been changed. About 30 minutes after getting to the new gate, there was another gate change and Moises had to relocate them once again.

“During the entire time Moises was constant and reassuring that he would look after our parents even after we left,” Gillen wrote in her commendation letter for Moises. “Behind the scenes, he was working to get our parents on standby for our flight. What an amazing individual!”

As boarding time approached for the Gillens’ flight, Moises was texting and calling them about his efforts to get their parents onto their flight, but unfortunately, the standby seats were taken. Despite that setback, Moises continued to update the Gillens by texts and phone calls every hour about their parents’ status and moved them as necessary to where they needed to be. Even though Moises’ shift ended at 9 p.m., he arranged for another wheelchair attendant to take over and continued to text the Gillens up until their parents boarded their delayed flight at 9:45 p.m. – more than an hour after the scheduled departure time.

“Moises made what could have been an extremely unnerving situation much better by simply being a human being, showing kindness, compassion, and understanding of our situation,” said Gillen. “We are so very, very grateful for Moises and wish him nothing but the best and continued praises to him and his kind heart.”

Because Moises went well above and beyond his customers’ expectations, he was named MIA’s April 2023 Employee of the Month.