In The News
Snuggle With a Smile
Just Orthodontics leads drive to provide blankets for hospitalized children
Written By: Cindy Hodgson, Herald Times Reporter - October 7th, 2011
MANITOWOC — Sara Schuh remembers how much it meant to her when her daughter, Olivia, received a Project Linus blanket at each of the two hospitals where she was hospitalized as a newborn in 2002.
"It makes you know that you're not alone," she said.
Schuh spoke of the comfort of knowing someone had made and donated a blanket anonymously to help a stranger "in some of your darkest hours."
Olivia still has blankets from the Project Linus program, which provides handmade blankets to hospitalized children. Now, Schuh's younger daughter, Rayna, 4½ years old, has to have heart surgery on Oct. 17 to address a total coronary anomaly. Schuh is hoping a handmade blanket from the Project Linus program will be available to comfort Rayna during her hospital stay as well.
But Schuh, who works as treatment coordinator for Just Orthodontics in Manitowoc, isn't just on the receiving end. She's also spearheading a drive to provide handmade blankets to three hospitals through Project Linus as a way to commemorate Orthodontic Health Month, which is observed in October. Organizers are calling their project Snuggle With A Smile.
Schuh said they want to celebrate "not only what we do, but who we do it for." Other employees and patients of Just Orthodontics have had young family members who have been hospitalized as well, and Schuh thought contributing to Project Linus would be a way for the office to help.
Jackie Sleger, orthodontic assistant at Just, said when people know someone whose child is ill they want to help but "no one ever really knows what to do."
Sleger said she can give gift cards to parents of a sick child, but that doesn't seem like something that provides comfort.
By making blankets, "I just feel like they're going to get this comfort," she said. "Like this wrap me up, I'm OK, safety blanket kind of a thing."
Giving back
Dr. Jeff Just said Schuh suggested the project at a staff meeting, and they all liked the idea.
"I think it's fantastic," he said. "We're always looking at ways that we can do things that give back."
Article #2 from WFRVw:
LAKESHORE (WFRV)- An effort underway in Manitowoc will soon bring comfort to kids in need.
As part of Orthodontic Health Month, employees at Just Orthodontics made and collected blankets for Project Linus. It's an organization that donates blankets to kids in hospitals.
The blankets came in all shapes and sizes, and soon they will bring comfort to kids in need. That's why Sara Schuh first started the project 'Snuggle With a Smile.'
"There are girl scout groups, church groups, even our local quilting club," Sara said. "It just went community-wide." More than 200 blankets were made and donated by people throughout the community.
"We try to send out as many blankets as we can and having something given to us like this is just awesome," said Project Linus coordinator Mary Yurk. Some blankets will go to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee. It's a place Sara knows all too well.
"Our daughter will have open heart surgery on Monday," she said.
That's how Sara knows the importance of a little piece of home for a child in the hospital. And she got a lot of help from someone else who's been in her shoes. Patsy Walesh's son Buddy had open heart surgery earlier this year. The two moms have developed a bond. 
"At a point in her life where she could have fallen down and had a mom pity party she didn't," Patsy said. "She took a very worthwhile project and dedicated herself to it." It's a dedication that's sure to bring smiles to a lot of little faces.
"We always look at ways that we can give back for what we have been given and this is just one of them," Patsy added.
"I'm just amazed how caring and loving people are," Sara said.
Just Orthodontics donates to compaign for Lincoln High School JFK Fieldhouse
Just Orthodontics has made a Captain-level donation to the Ships Voyage-JFK Renewal Project campaign, which is raising money for renovations at the JFK Fieldhouse at Lincoln High School. A Captain-level donation is between $10,000 and $24,999. "We're proud of the education we received from the Manitowoc school system and are thrilled at the opportunity to help renovate the JFK Fieldhouse," said Dr. Jeff Just, a 1980 Lincoln graduate and one of several in the Just family to attend LHS. Just's father, Dr. Harold Just, was a 1946 Lincoln graduate, and Harold's father, Dr. William Just, graduated with the class of 1916. Jeff Just and his wife, Sue, a 1983 graduate, have three boys who represent the fourth generation of the Just family to attend Lincoln High School — Braden, class of 2012; Ethan, class of 2014; and Owen, class of 2024. Members of the Just family are, from left, Jeff, Sue, Ethan, Owen, Braden and Harold. To learn more about Ships Voyage or to sponsor an engraved bleacher seat, visit www.shipsvoyage.org, or become a friend on Facebook.
For 90 years, practice has offered orthodontics for kids, adults
By: Charlie Mathews, Herald Times Reporter
June 28th, 2009
MANITOWOC - Jeff Just doesn't take a train to work and he charges more than 50 cents for tooth extractions. But he is the third generation of Just men to enjoy providing dental and orthodontia services to Lakeshore area patients since 1919. "Retirement is a long ways away � not even in the back of my mind," said Just, 47, the owner of Just Orthodontics, 340 Reed Ave.
His "Grampy," William Just, has passed away, after retiring at the age of 65 from the dental practice that he started in Maribel in 1919 after attending the Marquette Dental School. "He would take the train from Manitowoc, where he lived, to his office in Maribel," Jeff wrote in a profile of his grandfather. "Sometimes, when he worked late on Saturday he would miss the last train and have to walk home a distance of about 12 miles."
William Just had two children including Harold "Hal" Just, father of Jeff, and an orthodontist from 1960 to retirement on his 65th birthday in 1993.
Hal Just is the one who built the office on Reed Avenue, moving the practice from the Dempsey Building downtown, where Jeff now sees thousands of patients, aided by five full-time and two part-time employees. As a specialist in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, Just practices the art and science of straightening irregular teeth and realigning poorly positioned jaws to produce not only straight teeth but also properly aligned jaws.
Less time, more adults
Hal and Jeff Just recently sat down to share progress in the field of orthodontia, as well as what's stayed the same. Hal, who went to Northwestern University in Chicago for both dental and orthodontia studies, said patients still need to brush their teeth and keep them clean. Some adolescents and teens need more motivation than others.Hal had a tight schedule when he was practicing and patient punctuality remains paramount with Jeff. "I won't be late for anybody and I don't expect them to be late for me," he said, noting about three-quarters of patients are seen for adjustments between 3 and 5 p.m. because of work or school obligations. The second generation Just didn't have that many adult patients but the third generation orthodontist said about 30 percent of his patients in 2009 are in their 20s and beyond.Jeff said many adults didn't have the opportunity to have braces as teens, may feel self-conscious and develop more self-confidence after a nicer looking smile is created. "Teeth can only move so quickly," said Jeff, father, with wife, Sue, of Braden, 15, Ethan, 14, and Owen, 4. But where Hal's patients usually needed two to three years till they were done having "metal mouth," Jeff can usually predict a course of treatment lasting less than 18 months.With less pain, too, than Hal's patients in the 1960s and 1970s when the wire used in the braces was stainless steel. Today's "self-ligating brackets" use nickel and titanium today, "applying a much gentler, continual force versus push-stop," Jeff said. Typically, only three to five long appointments are required during the course of orthodontic treatment. Adjustments are often made about eight weeks apart, compared to three weeks several decades ago.
Facebook, YouTube, HDTV
Jeff Just realizes video images can say a thousand words so he posted to YouTube a six-minute video showing what's involved in having braces put on at the beginning of treatment. "It shows that there's nothing really scary or painful that's going to happen," he said.
When visiting Jeff to talk with a reporter, Harold marveled at the widescreen HDTV in a consulting room where his son shows time-lapse video with mouths full of crooked teeth morphing into smiles any child or adult will be willing to show off. The video was produced by Braden who Jeff has acquainted with the challenges of running a 21st century orthodontics practice. It's too early too tell if any of Jeff's sons will become the fourth generation Just earning an undergraduate degree, and then attending a dental college for four more years, and adding two years on top of that if specializing in orthodontics. It's a long, rigorous academic haul with plenty of challenging biology, chemistry, and physics courses.
Jeff earned his bachelor's in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then his dental degree from Marquette in 1988 followed by two years of orthodontia training at Northwestern. Becoming an orthodontist also is daunting from a fiscal perspective. Jeff said it is not unusual for a young orthodontist, after 10 years of college, to graduate with $500,000 of student debt. But Jeff said his father's career choice influenced him, as did the fact he has several relatives who are dentists, orthodontists or dental hygienists. "Orthodontists are life-long students," Jeff said. "The state requires 15 hours a year of continuing education but my goal is to always have, at least, three times that to stay on top of technology that's ever changing."What I do is fun and as long as I can do it, I will."