HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Nov. 5, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- IPOdesktop.com, in its continuing series of Internet radio reports featuring OptimumCare Corporation (OCTBB:OPMC), today interviewed Helen Tvelia, R.N., Program Director of the company's extensive programs and services at Huntington Beach Hospital.
The show's host, Francis Gaskins, Editor of IPOdesktom.com, interviewed Tvelia. Listeners may hear the interview through RealAudio at http://rslb.eonstreams.com:8080/ramgen/gaskins/opmc-helen.rm or via Windows Media at http://mmslb.eonstreams.com/gaskins/opmc-helen.wma .
During the interview, Tvelia, a former emergency room nurse in New York, said she became affiliated with Huntington Beach Hospital approximately 20 years ago, joining first as a staff nurse and then beginning her focus on psychiatric care programs at the hospital, coordinating the growth of services about 14 years ago. By 1991, the program had grown so significantly that both the hospital and OptimumCare management decided it was in their mutual best interests to have Tvelia become the company's Program Director.
She today runs a psychiatric care program for inpatients that occupies a whole floor of the hospital, a partial hospitalization program where patients attend counseling sessions during the day and return to their homes in the evening, as well as a full outpatient program, where patients see a staff of psychiatrists for less frequent counseling and also periodic administration of medications.
Tvelia notes during the interview that the need for staffing services was already becoming very apparent when she first met Meryl Stern, who today heads OptimumCare's Associated Staffing Services operations in Southern California. Tvelia said the acquisition of Stern's staffing services was "the perfect marriage" of two good companies that have had a long and rich relationship with each other.
The company's continuing acquisition criteria remains focused on local staffing programs with a healthcare component in the $1-$3 million revenue level, and operating profitably. It has already made three staffing acquisitions, all in the Los Angeles area, with the additional office that has recently opened in Northern California serving the market from San Jose north to Sacramento. All deliver highly qualified nurses and social workers when clients find themselves short of staff.
An earlier interview with Chairman & CEO Edward A. Johnson is also available. Listeners may hear it at http://gaskinsco.com/opmc.ram or http://mmslb.eonstreams.com/gaskins/opmc.wma .
Created in 1987 to respond to opportunities presented by increasing utilization of behavioral health services, OptimumCare today provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services and temporary healthcare staffing services through a network of affiliated hospitals, medical centers, community health centers and staffing agencies. Further information on the company may be found on its website at www.optimumcare.com .
Certain of the statements made herein constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including the risks associated with plans, the effects of changing economic and competitive conditions, government regulation which may affect facilities, licensing, health-care reform which may affect payment amounts and timing, availability of sufficient working capital, program development efforts and timing, and market acceptance of new programs which may affect future sales growth and/or costs of operations. Additional information may be obtained by reviewing the company's reports filed from time to time with the SEC.