Panhandle Health selects new director from within agency

After a national search for a new director, Panhandle Health District selected one of its own.

Erik Ketner, 48, began the position on May 24 and replaced Don Duffy, who left to do private consulting. Ketner previously worked as the administrator of the health district’s environmental and health protection division.

“Most of my history is in environmental health,” Ketner said. “A lot of that for the district is about protecting the water supplies – keeping the lakes, the rivers and the groundwater clean – despite the fact that we’re seeing a lot of growth in the area, and with growth comes challenges to protect those resources.”

Ketner said he held other district roles since first hired in 2001, including food service inspections, septic system placement, solid waste, child care inspections and environmental health. He did recent administrative oversight for the district in the Bunker Hill Superfund site and worked on Panhandle’s public health preparedness.

“I recognize that I have a lot to learn on our health services and clinical side,” he said, noting that he’s worked with division administrators who oversee those programs.

“We recently completed a community health assessment. I’d like to take a look at that and the resources available, as far as some of the opioid settlement funds, and see how we can best use those to support and help our community,” he said. “To be fair, probably the next two to three months are going to be educational for me. After that, it will be seeing what opportunities the health district can best pursue.”

While most of his career has been with Panhandle, he worked a couple of years around 2010 at the Idaho Department of Environment Quality on public drinking water systems, but then returned to the district.

Since 2013, he has worked with North Idaho counties and cities to update rules to protect the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer. The underground water source begins near Bayview, spreading toward Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, then a majority of Spokane.

Government rules define the density of septic systems allowed over the aquifer and an inspection program for chemicals stored and handled over it.

The district monitors water quality on 28 wells along the aquifer. Ketner said initiatives dating to the 1970s that joined with Washington groups have protected the Inland Northwest population’s major source of drinking water.

“It’s remarkable that it is such a pristine drinking water supply,” he said.

Marlow Thompson, Panhandle district board chairman, said Ketner rose to the top among candidates as someone who understands the district’s operations.

“Every new director which we have chosen from in-house has been a success, and it hasn’t been that successful when we’ve tried to go outside,” said Thompson, a board member for 31 years.

“Here’s Erik, who has been with us about 20 years, and he knows the system. He knows public health, especially with the environmental portion of the health district. Another thing we looked at is how well Erik would be received by the other division administrators. That’s really important.”

The district has about 100 employees. Its public health services cover five North Idaho counties. Programs range from disease prevention to senior support and nutritional services.

Panhandle also operates five primary care clinics – one each in Kootenai, Shoshone, Boundary, Benewah and Bonner counties.

Raised on rural property outside of Bonners Ferry, Ketner lives in Coeur d’Alene. He spends his free time mountain biking, traveling and visiting with three adult daughters.