Lincoln Parish Police Jury calls for evaluation of Ruston Hospital

RUSTON, La. (KNOE) - The Lincoln Parish Police Jury officially submitted a request to the Louisiana Department of Health Monday to evaluate the Northern Louisiana Medical Center after several constituents have raised concerns.

The Police Jury conducted a survey that found 50% of the Parish’s residents are going to other parishes for healthcare.

“We have an alarming amount of people that are migrating out of Lincoln Parish for their health care needs, and they’re going in all directions,” Lincoln Parish Police Jury President Glenn Scriber said. “So we just felt like we really need to get some other people involved to see what we can do to stop the bleeding on people migrating out for their health care needs.”

Scriber also said he is worried about how the recent state of the hospital will impact economic development.

“Lincoln Parish residents deserve to have health care that they can depend on and have confidence in right here in our parish,” Scriber said. “It’s important for not only for our residents, it’s important for trying to attract other businesses that might be looking at Lincoln Parish here.”

KNOE reached out to the Louisiana Department of Health and The hospital’s parent company, Alliance Health for comment. They did not respond.