Health District Founder Ready To Retire
Larry Belmont, the Panhandle Health District’s founding director, announced Thursday his plans to retire at the end of the year.
“I want to retire while I’m still in good health and reasonably young,” said Belmont, who’s 61. “I plan to take it easy for a while and reassess my options.”
Belmont, a former University of Washington Medical School deputy director, launched the five-county public health agency in 1971.
He’s fought the Legislature every year since for enough money to run it.
During his tenure, the Panhandle’s population tripled, lead poisoning in Shoshone County surfaced, and AIDS and the hantavirus claimed their first North Idaho victims.
Increasing environmental awareness prompted closer public scrutiny of land and water maintenance and growing numbers of elderly ignited a need for home health care.
Belmont guided his board and staff through budget cuts and drooping morale, criticism over enforcement and name-calling by politicians who questioned the need for a public health agency.
Panhandle Home Health director Kay Kindig has stuck with Belmont for 10 years and said Thursday that she’ll miss him.
“He’s made it possible for me to do things I couldn’t have done in other places,” she said. “I learned a great deal from him. He’s really allowed me to stretch.”
, DataTimes