Its with great happiness, again, that today I get to announce that Sharon Oliver has become the second graduate of our Centrality 2.0 program!

Just like with Amanda Houston earlier this week, Sharon has said the three components of the program with the greatest impact on her were the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, attending The Landmark Forum, and moderating a Performance Preview based on the book Get Rid of the Performance Review by Samuel Culbert. If you’ve never been exposed to these books or the forum, I highly recommend all three!

Congratulations, Sharon!

Its with great happiness today that I get to announce that Amanda Houston has become the first graduate of our Centrality 2.0 program!

Centrality 2.0 is a program we announced back in December, 2011 which consists of 40 individual components spread across the topics of: Chemical Hygiene & Safety; Customer Experience; Human Resources; Markets, Technologies, Procedures, and Matrices; Processes; and Systems. Upon completion of the program, the graduate receives a $4000.00 raise and the status of being self-managed within our organization.

Completing the program is a tremendous accomplishment, with each graduate spending hours and hours of their personal time digesting the individual components which were all chosen to provide a level of personal and professional development for the graduate. Completing the program is a true commitment!

Included in the program are a number of videos, books, presentations, and experiential activities, from which, according to Amanda, the three components of the program with the greatest impact on her were the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, attending The Landmark Forum, and moderating a Performance Preview based on the book Get Rid of the Performance Review by Samuel Culbert. If you’ve never been exposed to these books or the forum, I highly recommend all three!

Congratulations, Amanda!

What is it?
The DMR-QA study covers all major and some minor permit holders under the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). If required to participate, permit holders should have received the DMR-QA 32 Announcement from the EPA at the beginning of 2012.

What does Paragon need from you?
We need to know if you are required to participate.

If you are required, please review our DMR-QA information page and complete the required checklist so we can assist you with being DMR-QA compliant!

Effective immediately, and in line with guidance published by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) in July, 2011, we are changing the sample types routinely provided with our Low-Level Mercury (LLHg) testing kits.

If you are using Paragon for low-level mercury (LLHg) testing, please review the technical guidance page and address any questions or requests to your Account Coordinator prior to your next sampling event.

It’s almost time for our next ADF7 event!

Details have just been posted on our website.

To view the details, visit our ADF7 page.

Quick Summary: Hanging at the Detroit Zoo followed by dinner at Royal Oak Brewery, Sunday, April 1, 2012 starting at 2:30 PM.

Although the events are geared towards our staff, customers and vendors are always welcome to join in the fun! To coordinate joining our group for the event, please contact John Parmentier by phone at 734.469.5607 or by email at jcparmentier@paragonlaboratories.com.

Like always, we’re looking forward to getting a big group out for this event and enjoying an afternoon of healthy outdoor fun!

For our inaugural timeline cover photo, we’ve selected an image taken by our very own Erica Gwynn while performing one of the many microbiological procedures we perform on-site.

The image is of a petri plate consisting of four different agars used to detect salmonella. The agars used are: XLD Agar, Bismuth Sulfite, Hektoen Enteric Agar, and SS Agar.

The photo was taken here at Paragon by Erica using her HTC Incredible phone.

Salmonella Analysis

SAVE MONEY

With a handful of the most commonly requested procedures billed at costs lower than the State of Michigan Drinking Water Laboratory, Paragon is saving new clients hundreds of dollars each year! Procedures priced lower than the state lab, include: Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs); Halo Acetic Acids (HAA5s); Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs); SOC – Carbamates; SOC – Herbicides; SOC – Pesticides; Lead and Copper (First Draw for Corrosion Control).

AND THEN SAVE EVEN MORE MONEY!

If you’re required to sample for Disinfection By-Products (DBPs), including Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and Halo Acetic Acids (HAA5s), you can now save even more without the restrictions of a special limited time offer! No fine print. No time limitations. Just a new low price!

Our new list fees for DBPs are:

Halo Acetic Acids (HAA5s) – $108.00 / sample

To learn more about the drinking water services we provide, visit us at:

DRINKING WATER TESTING SERVICES

Around 4:30PM this afternoon, we added a Live Chat feature to our website!

This new functionality gives you another way to interact with our staff, allowing you to choose the method that best suits your needs and preferences.

Live Chat allows for real time conversation with our knowledgeable staff, giving you access to information that isn’t posted to our site or providing you with answers to questions you may have about the services we provide.

We’re very excited to offer this new channel to interact with our staff but ask that you be patient with our agents as we work the bugs out of our system during the first few days of use.

The people, communities, and generations we intend to serve are diverse. From schools in small towns full of energetic children to multinational corporations developing cutting edge technology. They are ever changing and timeless all at once. Our service is more than just data, it is data that influences the quality of life for many!

With that, we never want to lose sight of the reasons why we do the work that we do. To help us keep our work in perspective, we scour the web looking for interesting videos, photos, and sites that challenge us to keep a sharp mind and the desire to strive for greatness!

Today, we have two new multimedia resources that do just that. First, we finally have a logo for our very own Mission Statement. Second, we’ve posted a new TED video on our Mission Statement page of a great talk given by Nate Garvis titled Creating the Common Good by Habit. The video is short (10 minutes) but holds a powerful message…so sit back and enjoy the show!

MISSION STATEMENT: DELIVER DATA FOR PEOPLE, COMMUNITIES, AND GENERATIONS

As a public swimming pool owner in the State of Michigan, you are required to have your pool water tested under the Public Health Code Act 368 of 1978, R 325.2195. Although many local health departments (LHD) have offered this service in the past, you are not required to have them perform the sample collection and testing of your facility. In fact, this option may no longer be available to you, as many local health departments are looking more closely at the services they provide in these tough economic times and choosing to discontinue this service!

With that, we have expanded our Pool Water Sampling capabilities to include a larger area in Metro Detroit.

Our expanded service offering now includes both LHD acceptable test results AND complete sampling programs where you can simply provide us access to your facility and we’ll do the rest! To learn more about our expanded services, please visit our site.

EXPANDED POOL WATER SAMPLING CAPABILITIES