| SOUTHAMPTON, Pa., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Environmental
Tectonics Corporation (Amex: ETC) today announced that following the
successful integration of an ETC BARA-MED(R) monoplace hyperbaric chamber into
their clinical management program, the National Burns Center, Siemianowice,
Poland has purchased a second unit in order to increase the number of patients
that can be treated. The first chamber was donated by a mining company to provide adjunctive hyperbaric therapy for victims badly burned in a methane explosion in late March 2002. ETC worked very closely with the hospital to get clinical staff trained in hyperbaric medicine and chamber operation. This liaison not only contributed to successful outcomes for the burn victims treated initially, but enabled the hospital to quickly broaden their hyperbaric program and use the chamber to provide adjunctive therapy for other critical conditions such as Necrotizing Fasciitis. Michael W. Allen, Vice President of ETC's BioMedical Systems Group, said: "We always try to develop an active relationship with our customers in order to assist them in getting the most out of their investment. This works well for the hospital and especially for their patients. Siemianowice is an excellent example of this approach. "We have the best and most capable monoplace chamber available. This, coupled with the many man-years of experience our senior staff have in the field of hyperbaric medicine, gives us the unique ability to be more than simply a chamber provider to our customers. We do not just sell equipment and walk away. We work with them to help ensure they derive maximum benefit from this powerful modality. This applies equally to our domestic and international customers. "Currently, both here and overseas, only a small percentage of hospitals offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The number of chambers is increasing, however, as the benefits of hyperbaric medicine become more widely recognized. In the U.S., recent changes made to the Medicare reimbursement rate and the addition of lower extremity non-healing diabetic wounds to the list of reimbursed conditions will provide a significant incentive for hospitals looking to increase their revenue stream." ETC's BARA-MED(R) monoplace hyperbaric chamber offers the most cost-effective way for a hospital to put together a hyperbaric service. One can be set up at minimal cost and easily extended as patient load demands thus ensuring that income and expenditure can be closely matched to maximize return on investment. ETC designs, develops, installs and maintains aircrew training systems, public entertainment systems, process simulation systems (sterilization and environmental), clinical hyperbaric systems, environmental testing and simulation systems, and related products for domestic and international customers. This press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We have based these forward- looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any other future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "continue," or the negative of such terms or similar expressions. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, contract cancellations, political unrest in customer countries, general economic conditions, and those issues identified from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other public documents, including, without limitation, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 22, 2002. |
www.etcbiomedical.com