Knutson serves as New Richland Care Center’s director of nursing

By TRISTAN JENSEN

Editorial Assistant

Jessica Knutson took over as Director of Nursing for the New Richland Care Center in September of 2022 after a period serving as Interim Director of Nursing. “She was so good at it that we offered her the job,” said Administrator Bob Johanssen.

“It's not something I ever saw in my cards, that's for sure,” Knutson said about her promotion to the director position. Prior to becoming a nurse, Knutson worked as a welder. She started out at Chart Industries in Owatonna and learned everything she needed to know about welding there. When the company closed, she worked in Waseca for “a while” before finding an opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. The support she needed to leave her welding job and attend nursing school came from her fiance, John Madson. Madson supported Knutson through her time at Riverland College in Austin, allowing her to begin a career as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), and eventually become a Registered Nurse (RN) in 2001.

Before starting at the New Richland Care Center in November of 2021, Knutson worked at Benedictine Senior Living in Owatonna, her hometown. When she moved to New Richland, she found a buyer-friendly housing market here and already knew several of the other nursing staff at the Care Center from her time at Benedictine. Knutson says that compared to Owatonna, New Richland is quiet most of the time, except for the trucks.

Knutson is the daughter of Gregory Knutson and Nancy Willwolk, and has four sisters and three brothers. She has three children of her own and a stepson; two attend NRHEG schools and the other two go to school in Blooming Prairie, where Madson is from. She also has two dogs and a cat. In her spare time, she likes to relax with Netflix or ride her Harley Davidson motorcycle. “When I need to say something, I say something,” Knutson said about herself, but outside of pressing circumstances, considers herself relatively reserved.

As Director of Nursing for the Care Center, Knutson coordinates the nursing staff, handles their scheduling, ensures the staff are doing their jobs and following regulations, and communicates with doctors for residents' medical needs, as well as general nursing tasks to keep the residents “happy, healthy, and wonderful.”