Whether it’s coaching and sponsoring a youth baseball team or speaking to elementary school students about the importance of dental hygiene, Dr. Jim Cuglewski wants to have a positive impact on the community that supports his business.
Cuglewski, owner of Parma-based Cuglewski & Associates DDS Inc., follows three rules for community involvement.
“First, you have to make yourself available to the community,” he says. “We let people come into our offices and observe us in our daily work. If there’s someone who wants to be a dentist, a hygienist, or even a receptionist, we take the time to let them spend the day with us and ask us questions about what we do.”
That’s something, explains Cuglewski, that can’t be measured in a conventional way.
“If you give a person the chance to learn some extra knowledge, they may find it interests them and then use it to make a better contribution back to the community they live in.”
Cuglewski’s second rule is financial giving.
“You have to donate money to different organizations,” he says. “I am in a community and I recognize that I need people from the community to support my business. To do that, the best thing is to do give back financially to the community and show them I truly care.”
But, he says, it’s not enough to give money to every worthy cause.
“You also have to make your presence known,” Cuglewski maintains. “People need to know who you are. Go out and meet people. Show them you care as much about the community as they do. And then, you’ll get back twice or three times as much as what you’ve given.”
Cuglewski may be best known in the community for his support — and love — of youth baseball in Parma and North Royalton.
“I’ve always loved baseball,” he says when discussing teams he’s sponsored and coached, including the Mighty Molars and Jim’s Gems. “If people don’t support and back these teams, the kids will have nothing to do. That inactivity is what leads to youth vandalism and gangs.
“I may have old ideas about these things, but I want to help the kids in the communities I work in have the best chance possible.”
The third rule concerns sharing what you’ve learned with others.
“When I started out, I made some dumb mistakes with my business,” says Cuglewski. “I tell people the things I’ve done that were right and wrong. People like that. They know I make mistakes just like everyone else … and I’m human.
“It used to be that doctors were elevated in society, but I’d rather be on everyone else’s level.”
That’s one reason Cuglewski and his staff roll up their sleeves and get involved wherever possible.
Over the years, his small office of dentists and hygienists has offered time, manpower and contributions to organizations such as Cleveland’s Free Medical and Dental Clinic, the March of Dimes, Holy Name Society, Ladies Guilds, Kiwanis and various senior citizens groups.
Stacks of cards and letters thanking Cuglewski and his staff for their volunteerism are physical proof and validation of the group’s work, although Cuglewski says the written thank yous aren’t why he and his group do what they do.
“I’m real proud of the community I work in,” he says. “You have to be sincere and genuinely like people. People want personal service, and they like to see you’re out there in the community like they are. It helps tie you to the people who give you their business. And that’s really what it’s all about.”
How to reach: Cuglewski & Associates DDS Inc., (440) 884-4393
Dustin Klein ([email protected]) is editor of SBN magazine.
