Building business and home across the lake

In February of 2011, Aurora native Jessica Jordan was working as a chiropractor in Cleveland when she got a text that would change the course of her life. The message was from her mom, who said that the owner of a chiropractic practice in Trumansburg had recently passed away and suggested she look into purchasing the business.

“When I was in Cleveland, I was looking to open a practice there with one of my friends, but I also missed home,” Jordan said. “I came up in March and looked at it, and at the end of April I said, ‘You know what, let’s do it.’ I hadn’t planned on this — it’s been wild.”

When Jordan opened the doors to her new business June 1, 2011, almost 10 years ago, she was stepping into a space with a long history. For 30 years prior, the office at 203 E. Main St. was home to Dr. James Juenger’s chiropractic practice. It sat next to Rent-A-Flick, where Synergy Trumansburg Physical Therapy is now located.

Though some of Juenger’s former patients found new doctors during the months while the practice was closed, many still popped in to introduce themselves. It might have been intimidating for a 28-year-old to set up shop in a small, tight-knit community like Trumansburg, but Jordan said she felt at home right away.

“I think a lot of them were interested in seeing who bought the practice,” she said. “So, when they came in, I was a young girl who had only been to Trumansburg like three times. They weren’t expecting it. But everyone was nice to me, and one of the nicest compliments I got was from one of Dr. Juenger’s older patients, who said, ‘You’re very loud just like him. He would have liked you.’”

Jordan described the office as dated and that it “felt like a maze” of small treatment rooms, but it had all the necessary equipment. It came with one other important asset, too: longtime Office Manager and Chiropractic Assistant Susan Williams.

“I basically said, ‘I’m only buying this practice if Susan stays,’” Jordan said. “She was my biggest cheerleader and helped me do everything in the beginning. She helped me understand how to use the software and she hired my first two employees. I still call her with questions.”

Williams, an Interlaken resident, had worked for Juenger for 13 years and knew almost everything there was to know about the practice.

“I told her right at the beginning: ‘I’ll stay and get you started,’” Williams said. “Little did I know it would be five years later and I would still be there! But we eventually hired someone with the idea that they would be full time, and I trained them and then stepped back when they were ready.”

Shortly after Williams stepped back, Jordan left the older building for a brand-new one exactly 1.4 miles up the road. This move marked the completion of a goal many years in the making: She had built a home that included dedicated space for a practice right underneath it.

“My friends will tell you, I used to draw out the blueprints on graph paper. I must have had hundreds of drawings of this house,” Jordan said. “Finally, I worked with a modular company and I sent them a drawing and they said they could do it. I couldn’t believe it — they did everything I wanted.”

The two-story home sits back from the road to allow ample driveway parking and features a large front porch with a sign that says, “Cayuga Chiropractic and Wellness Center” hanging over a walkout basement door. Past the open flag and through the door is a waiting room, front desk, five treatment rooms, a full bathroom and an office. The backdoor of the practice goes into the garage, making the doctor’s commute a short one.

Jordan said the unique setup can make the line between private life and work a bit blurry, but she likes the community she’s cultivated.

“When we’re working on our yard, we get a lot of honks and people will just pull in and say hello,” Jordan said of herself and her husband, Adam Potenza. “It doesn’t bother me. I knew this is what I wanted. This is my family. They love me, and I love them, and they know it.”

Williams explained that Juenger’s practice always had a laid-back atmosphere, and she thinks Jordan has successfully kept that same energy in her iteration. The office is known as friendly and social, so much so that, before COVID, patients would often hang out and chat with each other and employees in the waiting room for hours.

Trumansburg resident Justin Vann said his whole family sees Jordan, and frequently, his two children come just for fun, mostly to play with Jordan’s two dogs, Jack and Gus.

“I’m a big fan of the Green Bay Packers,” Vann said. “And one of her other patients came in and got talking about living in Wisconsin for a time, and we realized we both had a big love of the Packers. I constantly see friends and co-workers in the office, and before COVID, people came with treats for the dogs. And the dogs knew right away and would be up in their laps.”

What started out as a necessary treatment course for pain has now turned into a weekly social outing for Vann. He said he was referred to Jordan when he hurt his back six years ago.

“I came home from getting groceries and brought a whole armload in and bent down to set them on the floor, and my back just totally gave out,” Vann said. “I literally had to crawl into the living room and just lay flat on my back for an hour. I called her first thing in the morning, and she got me right in.”

Vann said he felt immediate relief from his first session, and after two weeks of visits, he felt like he could get back to a normal routine. In 2018, his wife Kirsten saw Jordan for a back issue, and now, both of them go weekly for regular maintenance.

During COVID-19, Jordan has only allowed one person in the waiting room at a time, effectively putting the group hangouts on pause. The past year has been a challenging one. She saw her usual patient count dip from 100 per week to less than 20, but she said the numbers are steadily climbing now.

“A ton of people are coming now,” she said. “People’s backs are jacked up. I had so many ergonomic assessments, just because their desks are now on their couch or at their dining room table. We’ve been doing a lot of suggestions for that.”

Jordan has just one employee now, Office Manager Anna Johnson. Jordan credits their ability to work with COVID-19 guidelines this past year to many of Johnson’s good ideas.

After almost 10 years, Jordan said moving to Trumansburg was the best decision she’s ever made. Find out more info on Cayuga Chiropractic and Wellness Center at facebook.com/cayugachiro.