| By Renee Schofield, CEO
As TSS continued to grow in the early years, we realized it was time to think about a larger space. We were quickly outgrowing our 12-foot by 12-foot abandoned x-ray room at Ketchikan Medical Clinic. I had hired one staff member, so now two of us were crammed in there, with our files, our supplies, two desks, and a truckload of paper supplies. Did I mention that the previous owner of this company had an affinity for stationery? Lots of it. This was around the time that student drug screening started in the school districts. I was also doing many presentations for Chambers of Commerce, Rotarians, and employers.
So in 2002, my husband Ed and I purchased the building we are located in now at 120 Carlanna Lake Road. We spent the next several months having a contractor do a complete remodel of the property, which was a former print shop, with an apartment upstairs. The aforementioned paper supply now quadrupled. We had rolls of paper, reams of paper, leftover paper, colored paper …. It was awe-inspiring and had to be moved before we could start to remodel the space. One of my jobs became finding homes for all the paper. Any place that would take paper, could expect a visit from me. I delivered to Kids, seniors, scrapbookers; whoever raised their hand!
The Carlanna Lake location has served us so well. Over the years, we have had different tenants share the space with us. A clinic, counselors, our own Department of Motor Vehicles unit, etc. Two tenants have been with us the longest, Juneau Foot and Ankle Clinic, Dr. Frank Mesdag and Guardian Flight, the medivac company. For more than two decades those tenants have been in our “house.” I am grateful they chose the TSS location to house their business and continue to do so today.
While we have had a consistent home base in Ketchikan since 2002, one thing I’ve learned along the way is that no two days are ever the same in the TSS offices. One never knows what’s coming next or when it’s coming. Just know that what you think will happen, won’t. And when I am sure it won’t, it does.
This is a lesson that I have relearned many times as TSS has expanded its reach and services. Seeing a growing need, we eventually added offices in Juneau and Keokuk, Iowa and built our business partnerships across the nation, contracting with many collection sites. Some of those are brick and mortar and others are mobile collectors. So the look of our drug and alcohol testing landscape is always changing and evolving.
While our contact with our partners is mostly by phone and email, almost all of them are members of our industry associations, so we trust that they are well-trained to take the best care of our customers. We are always thrilled to meet up with these folks in person at our annual industry conference and it has been a pleasure to witness our partners’ commitment to the highest standards in our industry by continuing their training and education at these conferences.
So even though no two days are the same in our work and we’ve experienced ups and downs in business, I can say with confidence that having a secure home base over all these years, partners and staff who are dedicated to excellence and service, and a supportive community have been key to TSS’s longevity.