Sgt. John Sprinkle and his wife Chelsea Sprinkle moved to Zanesville after John returned home from a nine-month deployment and was placed into recruitment.

The couple, who met while John was on base in Fort Polk, Louisiana, packed their lives up in a 26-foot-long moving truck and moved to Ohio. When the Sprinkles arrived in late January, Chelsea had organized their new lives down to the letter, she ensured they had a place to live and that she would have employment shortly after moving to Zanesville.

Being a recruiter, John, who has been in the Army for six-and-a-half years, is based out of the Colony Square Mall and travels around to high schools, and other entities, in Muskingum and surrounding counties during the school year.

As a paramedic, Chelsea sought out ValueCare before ever coming to Ohio. Three days after the couple moved into their new home, Chelsea interviewed and accepted a position with the ambulance company.

About a week after Chelsea began working, the couple found out they were expecting their first child.

“I was so nervous, but I came into Jamey’s (CEO of ValueCare) office and I told him, I was like here’s the situation,” Chelsea said. “He was like that’s completely fine, we’re very family-oriented. He’s like I’m very excited for you and your husband, we’ll work with you any way that we can.”

Chelsea was instructed by her doctor that she was not supposed to lift any weight after 20 weeks into her pregnancy, which she said didn’t seem like an option.

“There’s not really a light-duty for most EMS,” she said. “So, when I brought it up it to Jamey they made a spot for me so I could continue working and continue having an income.”

Despite the limitation, ValueCare Ambulance Service altered her work responsibilities to accommodate Chelsea throughout her pregnancy.

With less than two months left in her pregnancy, ValueCare Founder and CEO Jamey Baker decided the couple should not welcome their first child without having a proper baby shower.

On Monday, Chelsea arrived at work to a surprise baby shower, complete with pink tassels, gifts from her coworkers, pink-iced desserts and balloons.

What Chelsea didn’t know as she resumed her day at work was that Baker’s present was still on the way. Around 1:30 p.m. Chelsea’s mom, who lives in Louisiana, walked into the ValueCare office.

https://www.facebook.com/chelsea.sprinkle.96/posts/336352713918159

Baker and his wife Jennifer Baker, arranged for Robin Thomas, Chelsea’s mom, to fly in for the shower.

“No daughter should have a baby shower while out of town serving our Country without their momma,” Baker said.

While ValueCare’s mission is to provide quality care for the people they serve, Baker said it’s also important for his company to support its employees and their families, especially those in the military.

“It was meaningful for us to be able to bring them together for a day or two and be apart of connecting them back together,” Baker said.

Since the time the Sprinkles arrives in Zanesville, Chelsea and her mother have only seen each other for two days, but they talk on the phone about once per day.

The day of the shower, Chelsea said she called her mom on her way to work, which she did often, but received no answer. But it was just hours later that she learned her mother didn’t answer because she was on a plane to Ohio.

Chelsea said Zanesville is the first place she and her husband have lived in their three and a half years of marriage that was not a military base. While military bases have many families that support each other, Chelsea said ValueCare has gone above and beyond to make her feel like family.

“I feel like they’ve become her family,” Thomas said. “I feel at ease knowing that she has them (ValueCare team). They look out for her and I feel like they’re going to make sure she’s OK and take care of her through all of this.”