Healthcare Heroes | Jessica Digby

What is your official Title?
I am a Clinical Assistant at the Center for Eye Care. In my role I check patients in and out, answer phone calls, schedule appointments and pull charts for patients at the clinic.

How long have you been at Watertown Regional Medical Center? Have you always been in the same position?
I’ve been with Watertown Regional Medical Center for over four years. I started working in registration at different departments in the hospital, including the Emergency Department, Urgent Care, and the switch board. I started at the Center for Eye Care a little over 3 years ago.

What do you enjoy most about working at Watertown Regional Medical Center?
I enjoy helping others and having a positive impact on people’s day or life.

What was your inspiration for getting into healthcare?
I’ve always been interested in science but I just kind of stumbled into the healthcare field when I was in college. My late husband had some medical issues and that made it more personal to me and helps me relate to patients who are seeking answers to their own problems. 

What would you say to somebody wanting to get into your profession?
I would tell everyone interested in the healthcare field that they should highly consider it. It's very rewarding and every day is different. One of the benefits of my role is being required to get CPR training. This is a useful tool both at work and when I'm out in the community.

My role specifically is a lot of on-the-job training so you have to be prepared to learn quickly. It also takes a lot of compassion and understanding when working closely with patients to schedule appointments and answer their questions on the phone.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work?
Currently, I’m going to school for radiography and I will be starting my core program this fall at Madison College. Ultimately I'd like to be in nuculear medicine since the science side of thing is a passion of mine. When I'm not at work and not studying, I enjoy crafting and I enjoy spending time with my two kids and family.

What is your favorite place in the Watertown area?
My kids are still young so we like to frequent all of the parks in Watertown. We also recently discovered the Watertown/Oconomowoc’s inter-urban bike trail so we spend a lot of time checking that out.

What does working for a CMS “Five-Star” Hospital mean to you?
I’m proud to work for a hospital that strives for excellence. An example at the Center for Eye Care is our Retina Specialist. This is something that you normally don’t find unless you are in a big city. Most people don’t want to travel to Madison or Milwaukee for care so it’s cool that they can get this quality of care closer to home.

Why do you believe patients can Count on Watertown Regional Medical Center for quality care?
Our staff really cares about the patients they see and they want to help. Being in a smaller clinic, we are able to get to know you better and treat you like close family or friends. This is a big reason why we’re rated in the top 14% of all hospitals in the US.

What is one thing you’re doing to help prevent the spread of COVID-19?
I’m vaccinated, I’ve been masking up daily for over a year, and I sanitize my hands. As a clinic, we make sure to clean our waiting area hourly to make sure patients are safe to come for care.