The New Artisans

 

REGINA PHELPS

Health Plus

Although many of the artisan businesses could do well in any major U.S. city, there are some that have a distinctly California quality about the services they offer.

Regina Phelps, a former nurse, launched Health Plus in 1982 after her bosses at a local hospital turned down her idea of providing corporations with courses on health-related topics. Doing it on her own generated $250,000 in revenues last year, with clients ranging from small service companies to such giant corporations as IBM and Raytheon. Among her more popular offerings is a course on communicable diseases, which attains a certain urgency in a city that seems at times on the verge of an AIDS epidemic. Another heavily subscribed seminar is entitled "Getting Ready for the Big One," which assists firms in preparing for a major earthquake.