Willis Knighton: ‘Listening to community’

A higher-up with Willis Knighton Health said Monday the corporation has nothing to announce at this time about whether it’s planning to build a facility in Ruston, but it is listening to the community.

“We’re always listening to the community to see what other type healthcare needs they may find useful and we are able to provide,” Brian Crawford, Willis Knighton’s senior vice president, said.

Asked directly whether the healthcare giant plans to build a hospital or clinic on an 18-acre site it owns adjacent to the south I-20 service road, Crawford said, “I don’t have any information on that.”

Ruston’s Board of Adjustments on Monday unanimously approved three variances sought by Willis Knighton for a digital billboard it wants to erect on the northeast corner of the property.

The variances allow the billboard to be bigger and brighter than what’s allowed Ruston’s zoning code.

Crawford said the 60-foot-tall, double- sided billboard is to “help promote greater and more visible information about the increasing clinical services we have in the Ruston area.”

Willis Knighton already had OB/ GYN, orthopedics, family medicine, cardiology, and pediatrics services in Ruston, located in offices scattered around the city.

Willis Knighton Medical Center Willis Knighton wanted the three billboard variances because the low-lying topography where the board will be placed creates a potential sight distance issue and sits between two overpasses.

“We feel like a variance is needed to make the sign more visible,” Crawford said.

Crawford said in addition to advertising Willis Knighton’s services, the digital billboard will also be used for public service announcements and will be available to city government for emergency messages.

“It’s really a community billboard,” he said.

The board should be operational by September, Crawford said.