| West Virginia's own $2.2 million dollar man
Tennis pro, health-care executive Jimmy Jamie makes Parade list
Clay County tennis-pro-turned-health-care-executive Jimmy Jamie was listed a few years ago in Parade Magazine's annual "What People Earn" edition
By Bill Lynch
Staff writer Charleston Gazette
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Clay County tennis-pro-turned-health-care-executive Jimmy Jamie was listed a few years ago in Parade Magazine's annual "What People Earn" edition.
He's in Parade (inside today's paper) again this year, but the 26-year-old's salary is considerably higher this time around.
"They talked to me a few years ago," he explained at the St. Albans office of Golden Heart, the in-home health-care company his mother owns. "Back then, I was playing more tennis."
Kenny Kemp
Golden Heart CEO Jimmy Jamie is featured in Sunday's Parade insert about what Americans earn.
His tennis career isn't exactly blossoming these days. "I still travel a lot and go to tournaments, but my ranking isn't very high," he said.
But his earnings are star level.
On the cover of Parade, there's Jamie's picture, not far from Britney Spears, who took in $2.25 million last year. Jamie was only $50,000 behind with $2.2 million.
Standing in the parking lot between their Mercedes Benz vehicles, Jamie's mother, Shidah Jamie, said she cringed when she heard they were going to print that information in the paper. The family is cautious about media scrutiny.
In January, Dr. Shahrooz Jamie, Jamie's father, a physician and a former mayor in Clay County, was ordered to pay $180,000 in damages and $94,000 in interest to Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield. He is alleged to have billed the insurance company for blood tests and allergy injections he never provided to patients.
Dr. Jamie said he planned to appeal the ruling.
Mrs. Jamie's feeling is while neither she nor her son has anything to be ashamed of, the additional attention isn't necessarily a good thing. She's proud of her son and the company she founded, but announcing what you make to the world could be asking for trouble.
However, the figure reported in Parade is valid, they say. Mrs. Jamie started Golden Heart three years ago, and Jimmy Jamie has been with it since the beginning. It is a family business, he said. His father and sister are doctors, he said, and he was motivated by their example to consider a career in the medical field.
A Harvard Medical School decal hangs in the back window of his car.
"Yeah, I went for a year," he acknowledged. "I didn't do so well. I came home, went to the University of Charleston, got an MBA. My sister did fine there [Harvard Medical]."
Dr. Sharon Jamie, 31, was also featured in Parade. She's a family medicine resident in Cleveland. According to the magazine, she earned $46,900.
Golden Heart provides health-care services in West Virginia and several other states, including Ohio and Texas. These are in-home services, they explained, providing care for the disabled and the elderly. Some of their patients have Alzheimer's, which requires more attention than what most families are capable of giving on their own.
"It's really the best thing," Jamie said. "It lets people stay in their home with their families. It's very important, but difficult work."
"And there's a lot of trust involved," Mrs. Jamie said. "Older people are very vulnerable. We're very careful to send the right person into a home. Our caregivers have a variety of training. They all go through background checks, and we're always on the phone talking to the family, making sure everything is OK."
Golden Heart, they said, bills for services through Medicare and Medicaid.
"I spend a lot of time on the road," Jamie says. "I'm in Texas. I'm in Ohio. Some of it is prospecting for new business, but there's a lot to do. There is a huge need for this kind of thing, obviously."
"He works very hard," Mrs. Jamie said.
Jamie said his wife, Crissy, is very supportive and he still gets in as much tennis as he can.
When he's not out of town on business or playing in a tournament, he squeezes in a few appointments for lessons.
"I give very good lessons," he said.
Reach Bill Lynch at ly...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5195.
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