New call center planned for Hobart

Saturday, October 2nd 2004, 2:42 pm

By: News On 6

HOBART, Okla. (AP) _ A company that provides mail-order supplies to diabetes patients plans to open a call center here, opting not to rebuild hurricane-damaged offices in Florida.

Diabetic Connection plans to begin operations within the next few weeks in Hobart, about 115 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

Owner Suzanne Senter, a Hobart native who now lives in Jasper, Ga., said she chose to bring business to her hometown after attending her 50th high school reunion in September.

That was the first time she had been back to Hobart since her mother's funeral in 1974.

One of Diabetic Connection's two centers in Daytona Beach, Fla., was destroyed by recent hurricanes. Senter, who had plans to expand anyway, decided to locate in Hobart.

``We thought we were going to expand in Florida, but while we were here, we saw how the town had deteriorated but was bouncing back with the square and the Main Street program,'' she said. ``It's beautiful now, and it's going to be even more beautiful. There isn't that vacant face that a lot of little towns have. It's exciting to be part of that and to add 30 employees immediately.''

Diabetic Connection initially will hire and train 30 people, and will ultimately employ about 90 people, she said.