Elaine Perkins, Birmingham Office continued

What’s the strangest claim you’ve ever handled? This is probably not the strangest claim I have had but the one that comes to mind.  It was a w/c claim, and the employee was divorced and had children. He then lived with another woman and had children with her, but never married her.  Then he went back and remarried his first wife.  He was killed, and the judge awarded the money be divided among all children (as you would expect) but also to both the wife and girlfriend. I was a little surprised that the girlfriend was awarded any of the money.

What’s your favorite part of the job? I enjoy assisting adjusters in the settlement of a claim with the claimant or his attorney and reaching a reasonable settlement and being able to tell Dom we saved the company a lot of money!

You’ve been with CGH for a good part of its history. How have things changed since you started working here in 1993? I have been blessed to work at AMIC for 13 years and have seen the company blossom from just a few employees to 56 employees.  When I came to the claims department, there were three employees in the B’Ham claims department and now we have 12.   I have seen the company grow with new ideas that allow us to better service our clients and customers.  We are now going paperless, something I never thought would happen during my work life.  I have seen it from being a company operation to adding TPA (Third Party Administrator) accounts and now having its own Software company.    

Elaine with Husband Joe during the Christmas Holidays

What do you like to do in your off-time? Any hobbies? I like to take a cruise every year, I love the mountains. We actually just got back from a cruise to Key West and the Caribbean along with one of my grandchildren—who turned five on the cruise.

Of course, I love to shop. I guess it is a known fact I love to shop for a new purse or two!!  I also enjoy sewing but don’t do as much as I used to.

How about family?  First I want to say that I have a wonderful husband Joe, and we both love spoiling our grandchildren.   We have two grandsons in West Palm, one is 5 yrs and one is 7 months. We have two granddaughters in Odessa Florida ages 6 and 3. We have a nineteen-year-old granddaughter attending Montevallo and a grandson that is a junior at Shades Valley High.  We get to visit the grandchildren in Florida two or three times a year and see the two here in Birmingham more frequently.

People often come to the home office here in Birmingham. Living here, what is the one thing that everyone should see while in Alabama? What are some of your favorite things to do when you have out-of-town guests in? I encourage them to tour the Vulcan, Civil Rights Museum, the museum at the Barber Motor Sports, The Botanical Gardens and visit some of our fine restaurants. I enjoy just sitting down with our guests and learning more about them and their family and what they do for entertainment. You know, a friend is just someone you haven’t met yet.

You had to know it was coming…your husband Joe has a tendency to show up in some—well—unusual costumes for Christmas parties and other events. Does he dress up for Halloween, too and if so, what is he doing this year? Yes he does and this year he will be dressed as a pirate with a hook hand and a patch over one eye.  Can you guess where he got this idea? (Below is one of Joe's costumes from a CGH Christmas Party)