Ever called a Savannah physician after office hours? Chances are good that Donna or Robert Culver took the message and forwarded it to the doctor. The Culvers' business, Chatham Answering Service, has provided off-hours telephone answering for 19 years for hundreds of physicians, real estate agents and other businesses Yet few of the thousands of patients, clients or office staff who interact with the Culvers are aware that their message-takers are slightly different from most answering services. Both Donna and Robert are legally blind.
"My staff didn't know they were blind in the beginning," said Dr. Michael Zoller, a physician with Ear, Nose and Throat Associates who's been a client of Chatham Answering Service for more than 15 years. "The first time they came in with the (leader) dog they were shocked."
The couple met in the 1960s as students at the Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon and married after Robert graduated from the University of Georgia in 1976. They raised their two sons and have two grandsons.
Lifelong activists for people with blindness, the couple is active at Washington Avenue Christian Church, where Robert is associate minister and Donna plays the organ.
"I was born totally blind," said Robert, 55. "I received (my) sight back after four cataract surgeries" before age 6. "I'm legally blind, but I am losing it again." Donna, 54, lost most of her sight at age 3 days when she was given oxygen after being born four months premature. She lost all her sight in 1987.
Donna founded Chatham Answering Service in 1988. "I had two line telephones. They had different rings to them so I knew who I was answering for," she says. "I had a Braille typewriter; it looks similar to a typewriter. That was all I had other than notebooks. "I was pretty fortunate. When the lights went out ... I could work in the dark."
After almost three years of Donna working solo, with Robert helping out on nights and weekends, the couple decided it was time for Robert to leave his career as a horticulturist with Oelschig Nursery Inc. to help manage the growth of the answering service.
"I said, "It's time to cry uncle." I'm trying to raise two boys at the same time. I cannot keep a house, raise two children, run the business and not have Robert here, too," Donna said.
Chatham Answering Service operates out of the Culvers' eastside home, assisting 158 doctors and about 30 other businesses. Currently, the company employs six people in addition to the Culvers.
Their first employee was a close friend who was also blind. "We try to hire blind people first," said Donna. "Then if we can't, we hire most of our people from Savannah State and Armstrong. We want to help them pay their way through school."
Over the years, they've had between 17 and 20 employees, of which four were blind. "Technology has driven us nuts," Robert said. "We have had to learn and learn and learn again. Text messaging, alpha messaging, e-mail. We had to learn all of that stuff. But the sighted people did too, didn't they?
"We have talk software on both cell phones. Can you imagine? Blind people with camera phones!" Voice activation, sound indicators and Braille computers are technological enhancements that aid the Culvers in their work and home life. Without warning, buzzers and bells sound off in different spots in their home and in the office behind their house. "Everything ring-dings and sings around here," said Donna.
As the answering business has transitioned from relying on land lines to using pagers, then radios and then to cell phones, each technology revolution brings adjustments in how the Culvers interact with clients. "One doctor may want to be paged; one wants to be called at home; the next wants to be called on the cell phone. It makes it more complex," said Robert.
For Zoller, what sets the Culvers apart is their personal service and commitment to their clients. "Their business has become enormous because they are so popular," he said. "If they can't reach you, they have numbers to call you at the gym or at a friend's. It's not just the mechanics of calling the doctor on the beeper "They know a lot of my patients from 15 or 20 years and that makes a big difference, too. "Nowadays everything is so cold and distant. So many times (the service) is a hook-up so it goes out of town. I like the local person who really knows the community."
Robert and Donna Culver met in the 1960s as students at the Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon, and married after Robert graduated from University of Georgia in 1976.
http://new.savannahnow.com/node/355120Created on ... November 23, 2007