Patients no longer have to battle heavy traffic

In his 13 years (and counting) practicing medicine, Dr. Clint Wilson has heard a lot from his patients.

Some of what they say has little to do with symptoms and is more about having to drive too far, or fight too much traffic, to see him.

“Having (practiced) at the hospital (Willis-Knighton Bossier), they feel like that was really congested for their needs, especially for a primary care type thing,” Dr. Wilson said. “They definitely say things like, ‘It would be nicer if you were a little closer to my house,’ or (they wish) we were a little less in the Airline Drive/Target shopping center mass traffic area.”

Now, Dr. Wilson’s patients and prospective new patients in north Bossier Parish and people in north Caddo Parish have an alternative. Willis-Knighton recently opened two suburban health clinics – WK Swan Lake Medical Plaza in Bossier City (5341 Airline Drive) and WK Northwood Medical Plaza in Blanchard (5621 North Market). Both are home to a family medical practice and an urgent care center. Both offer diagnostic X-ray services, while the Swan Lake location provides laboratory services.

WK Bossier Family Medicine relocated from the WK Bossier hospital complex to the Swan Lake location.

“We stay a decently busy practice, but we feel just this past week or two, patients are coming, I guess, because they feel like it’s easier to get here, so they just want to run by for their appointment,” Dr. Wilson said. “Instead of going to the urgent care, they’re coming here to see the people they know, because it’s just as easy. I think they’ve really enjoyed it.”

WK’s newest suburban clinics join two others (WK Palmetto Health Park in Benton and WK Stockwell Medical Plaza in Bossier), which have opened in recent years.

“We did a community health needs assessment a couple of years ago and found that the ratio of patients to physicians in Bossier and the north part of the parish were extremely high,” said Jaf Fielder, Willis-Knighton president and CEO. “In Caddo Parish, there are about 800 patients for every one physician, but there are 2,400 patients for every one physician in Bossier Parish. We felt we needed to start a strategic initiative to try to improve that, by placing clinics in the bedroom communities in Bossier to give that population … quick, easy and convenient access to primary and urgent care in Bossier Parish.”

However, north Bossier Parish isn’t the only place to which people are moving.

“Blanchard is another area that is growing rapidly,” Fielder said. “And that is part of our strategic initiative – to put these primary care clinics and urgent care clinics in the neighborhoods that are growing. Blanchard is certainly an area that has grown a lot in the past couple of years.”

The ability to have X-rays taken on site and blood work done at the Swan Lake location makes each clinic a one-stop shop for your health-care needs.

“Obviously, we had access to that at the previous location at the hospital,” Dr. Wilson said. “I think they enjoy it a little bit more here because it is quicker, and the whole health system isn’t using it. They feel like it’s a little more quicker – a little more convenient. The idea of everything being all in one place is super helpful.”

And it doesn’t hurt to see someone you know. “If they have the option of running here and spending just the same amount of time or less, versus an urgent care, they like coming here because they will have the nurse who says, ‘Oh, yes, I remember you get this every spring,’ or they will have us who say, ‘This medicine did well for you,’ or ‘This medicine does not do well for you.’ We just can kind of recall that, or if we can’t recall that off the top of our head, we have much quicker access to the chart to review and know this is something you frequently do, or this is not something you need to worry about because we’ve seen it before. It’s definitely nicer that they can see familiar faces.”