Home Helpers wins chamber's Tammy Nusser Customer Service Award
LANCASTER − Home Helpers owner Jody Amspaugh went from co-worker to boss.
She started working at the business in 2010, and wound up buying it in 2017. John and Cindi Morehead started the business in 2009.
Home Helpers is based downtown and serves Fairfield, Ross, Hocking, Fayette, Perry, Highland, Pickaway and Pike counties. It is the Lancaster-Fairfield County Area Chamber of Commerce Tammy Nusser Customer Service Award winner for this year.
"I couldn't believe it," Amspaugh said of winning the award. "I knew Tammy. Not really well, but when I first started working with our company, at the time we were in the same building as the chamber. She was super sweet to me. She was just really an awesome person. To actually have known her and then to get this award, I don't really feel worthy of it. But it's awesome."
The award’s namesake, Tammy Nusser, worked as the director of development at the county chamber of commerce until her death a few years ago.
Home Helpers provides non-medical health care like bathing, dressing, light housekeeping, meal preparation, and more for clients.
"And then just companionship," Amspaugh said. "So just whatever they need, whether it's a little bit or a lot, we can do it."
"I started as a caregiver," Amspaugh said. "I did that as a part-time job because my kids were real little and we were just looking for some extra income. Then about a month in, the owners had asked me if I wanted to do marketing. I started doing that and worked in the office for quite a few years."
That led to her buying the business when the previous owners retired.
Amspaugh said making the transition from employee to employer was a little rough, but easier for her husband, Carl, who has a business background.
"It was great for him, he slid right in," she said. "But for me, I was a co-worker and then all of a sudden I was the boss. That was a little odd. It took a little while to go in the boss role because I wanted to be a co-worker. It's funny because people thought I owned it anyway because I did the marketing."
She said she like being a caregiver more than marketing when she was a Home Helpers employee.
"I just had a heart for taking care of people, so that was my thing," Amspaugh said. "Then when the owners asked me to do marketing I actually turned them down. I told them that I'd rather do caregiving, because it was good for my kids, too. It worked around their schedule."
While she has an employee who does her marketing now, Amspaugh said she does like to attend various events in the community.
jbarron@gannett.com
740-681-4340
Twitter: @JeffDBarron
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Home Helpers wins chamber's Tammy Nusser Customer Service Award
