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Several times a year, Amy Crooks rereads a note of thanks she received after helping a BlueCross member who needed treatment for a serious health condition. It means as much to Amy today as when it was received.    

As a dedicated product coordinator, Amy worked with that member’s employer’s benefits team, the member’s health care providers and BlueCross case managers to make sure crucial pieces were in place for the member to receive vital care. 

The emailed note read: “There is a real live person who is often scared and going through the toughest time of their life behind every case. You never forget that, Amy. For that, I will be forever grateful.”  

The words remind Amy of the impact that she and others on her team can make on the health, wellbeing and lives of BlueCross members.  

“It makes me smile when I read this to know how much our work matters,” Amy says.    

Making a difference through a call 

Amy credits her early customer service roles at BlueCross for laying the foundation for her work today. She joined BlueCross in 2009 after serving as an account representative for a manufacturing company.    

“I thought my service background would be a good fit for a consumer advisor role here,” Amy says. 

Working at the BlueCross office in Nashville, she answered member calls on a wide range of topics and needs. She learned that every call required good listening and research skills and empathy.    

“Whether it was a call about a claim, getting a new ID, or something that really tugs at your heart, I always thought about how I’d want my family members to be treated if they called us,” Amy says.  

Amy loved the feeling she got by helping others in this way. When a new opportunity in customer service presented itself a few years later, she became a single-point-of-contact specialist, working on specific accounts to handle member responses that required more in-depth research or working with other areas of the company.  

“I also worked with our accounts’ HR specialists, which helps in building the relationship between our company and theirs,” Amy remembers. 

Putting the pieces together brings purpose 

Her 10 years in that role were good preparation for her current one. As a dedicated product coordinator, Amy’s the operations team’s subject matter expert for several BlueCross commercial plan accounts.  

She provides support for a variety of needs or projects related to her employer group accounts and for technical updates to their benefits structures necessary for claims processing.  She creates training materials for customer service teams answering calls for these accounts and regularly interacts with the employer groups’ administrators on cases like the one that prompted the inspirational email. 

This means building relationships and working with the HR and benefits administrators for the group account in addition to teams across BlueCross.  

“It gives me satisfaction to put the pieces together for someone to get services or care or to make sure their benefits are easy to understand and their claims process efficiently,” Amy says. 

Amy also attends benefit fairs and enrollment events held by the group accounts. She’s seen what it means to members to put a face with their health plan.  

“Answering questions in person is another way our customers know that we are there for them,” she says.  “It means everything to know that I’ve helped someone.” 

Staying grounded 

Amy likes to get outside when the weather in Carbondale, Illinois makes it possible. She’s worked remotely for more than 10 years starting with what was then the telecommuting program. That’s let Amy, and her husband and children, be closer to more of their extended family, something she treasures. 

“You can’t put a price on being near family and spending time with them,” she said.  

With her remote-work experience, she offered encouragement and ideas when her BlueCross team members first worked from home during the pandemic, and then as the company opened up remote work options in the years that followed.   

“It was a pleasure to share those tips with our team and be a resource on top of what our company was doing to help us work efficiently from home,” she says.  “With the technology we have for virtual meetings, it can feel like you’re right there in person”. 

Without a commute, there’s more time to do other things she loves, like volunteering.  She’s active at her church in youth ministry and helping in the nursery. She’s also taken up gardening and last year began growing roses. She now has 19 varieties which she refers to as her “babies” because of the care they require.  

Going outside when they’re in bloom is instantly relaxing, Amy says. And the perfume from their blooms energizes her. “I love the recharging feeling of walking through the garden on my lunch break.”

Tending to her garden’s needs grounds her, much like the email she pulls up from time to time. 

“I always want to do my best in everything I do,” Amy says, “and I always want to remember that what we do to serve others counts.”