Madison College Nursing Program to remain and expand at the Watertown campus.  

(Madison)— Rep. Jagler met with Dr. Jack Daniels and Vice President Tim Casper from the Madison Area Technical College today to discuss the fate of the associate degree nursing program at the Watertown Campus. Last July, Madison college announced that nursing program would end in Watertown and be replaced with a LPN program.  

“The original decision didn’t take into account that the Watertown Regional Medical Center doesn’t even employ LPNs,” Jagler said. In a series of with Madison College administrators, I strongly encouraged them to rethink the decision which would end a flow of nurses to the Watertown Regional Medical Center at a time when there is a critical shortage. Area nursing homes would also be affected by this decision. The pool of available professionals to take care of our sick and elderly is already low and this decision would exacerbate the problem.”

 The Madison College East region associate degree nursing program is currently split with students attending one year at the Watertown Campus and the other at Fort Atkinson. Under the original plan, it would be moved entirely to Fort Atkinson.  

Jagler added, “Today, Dr. Daniels informed me that not only are they keeping the program here in Watertown, they are reversing their decision and moving the entire two year program to the Watertown campus. This will involve updating and modernizing the labs at the Watertown campus. Not only will this provide certainty for students from Watertown, it will allow even stronger cooperation between MATC and the hospital. In addition, it will open the door to enhancing the “pipeline” of talent from Watertown High School through the Certified Nursing Assistant Program available to our high school students.

“I am so thankful to Dr. Daniels for reconsidering the original plan and for his openness to listening to my concerns and the concerns of the Watertown community,” Jagler said.