Outgoing Panhandle Health director talks about challenges, gains, COVID response

Panhandle Health District Director Don Duffy, who helped oversee North Idaho’s response to COVID-19, is set to leave his post May 24.

The Hayden Lake resident, 65, worked seven years leading the district’s division of community health and clinical services until he was appointed incident commander of the pandemic response.

Idaho had fewer COVID-19 closures and regulations than neighboring Washington, and although the Panhandle health board passed a temporary mask mandate, it was “largely not followed” by the public, Duffy said.

“It wasn’t my choice to do that,” Duffy added. “Even as incident commander, I was never asked if we should have a mask mandate. That was the decision of the board to make. I think in hindsight, I doubt they’d make that mandate ever happen again.

“Part of it is in the data, right? I could never find any data that a mask mandate in a community actually lowered the incidence of COVID-19. Maybe it was largely due to the compliance to the mandate.”

He also thinks a better approach would have been more of a focus on vulnerable populations, such as protections for seniors in nursing homes or hospitals.

From March 2020 to early March 2024, there were a total of 1,140 COVID-19-related deaths among the 266,000 residents in the five northern counties of Idaho that are served by the Panhandle Health District.

In Spokane County, with about 550,000 residents, there were 1,567 COVID-related deaths from 2020 through early Marc 2024, according to the Spokane Regional Health District.

Duffy noted that many people from Spokane traveled to Idaho during the pandemic for social events and getaways from Washington’s strict mask mandates.

“There was a lot of that,” he said. “But that’s something that as a health district we could not, nor would we, ever control.

“When you look at the numbers, of the over 1,100 deaths, the vast majority of those were over 60 years old. You have to ask: Should we have tailored our response to that demographic, particularly those in nursing homes, long-term care facilities, hospitals and in other health care?”

Duffy reflected further on the tough choices of the time.

“There were people even in North Idaho who were on both sides of that decision, for sure. I think we could have been more specific to those who were suffering, rather than a shotgun approach to the entire population.”

Otherwise, the district gave guidance to schools, businesses and organizations to prevent COVID spread, along with holding widespread vaccination clinics. That vaccination was an individual’s choice, Duffy said.

“We teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves,” he said. “I really feel like no organization, government or political body should ever get in between a patient and their provider, in terms of their decisions for their health care.”

Panhandle Board of Health provides governance, made up of seven members from the five counties who may include commissioners, appointed representatives or medical providers.

One of those board members of 31 years, Marlow Thompson, lives outside of Tensed, Idaho. He represents Benewah County and said Duffy helped to hold the district together in recent years.

“I’m highly disappointed to see him leave,” Thompson said. “I was in hopes that Mr. Duffy would be the last director I’d be involved in choosing.

“That (COVID) was a tough time for the entire board. There were so many things we didn’t know, and it’s the unknown that makes it difficult to make good decisions.”

He said the board has had recent changes in members.

“As far as I’m concerned, things have worked well with Don.”

Most people think of health districts for disease prevention, Duffy said, but few know about Panhandle’s broader services, which include Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer water quality protection, senior support, nutrition services and running primary care clinics – one each in Kootenai, Shoshone, Boundary, Benewah and Bonner counties.

But during COVID, more people became aware of public health districts and Panhandle Health, Duffy said.

“For a long time, Panhandle Health, and I think it’s true for many health districts, we kind of lived in the shadows, in a way,” Duffy said. “We just deal with disease and handle it.

“Honestly, like it or not, COVID really helped us with awareness. People didn’t even really know much about Panhandle Health before the pandemic. A lot of people became aware of us through the pandemic.”

During 2023, the district helped more than 41,000 people with programs such as tobacco cessation, suicide prevention, opioid treatment and food safety inspection.

Idaho’s public health districts are structured differently than in many other states, where typically each county has a health district, he said. A 1970 statute created seven health districts in Idaho. Panhandle’s area stretches from the St. Maries-Kellogg area to the Canadian border.

He said among his work focuses, he hopes more people understand protecting the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer.

The major water source runs beneath the surface from Bonner County near Sandpoint into Spokane. The district does regular monitoring of the aquifer at well sites to ensure nitrate levels haven’t increased, such as from fertilizing lawns.

“People laugh when I say it’s the unseen jewel of North Idaho,” he said. “We don’t see that aquifer, yet over half a million people are getting its water.”

Among 12 major aquifers in the state, the Rathdrum Prairie is ranked third for vulnerability to nitrate contamination, “largely because of the significant population that surrounds it,” he said.

“Panhandle Health District along with other community partners have a responsibility to keep that aquifer clean. It is the only aquifer of the major ones in Idaho next to a significant population center that does not have nitrate contamination, and we want to keep it that way.”

Regional agencies have protections that include spacing one septic system every 5 acres, limiting growth and requiring housing developments and apartments above the aquifer to have their own sewer systems to take sewage out of the area.

Among other concerns, Duffy said he also hopes the district and other health agencies can keep hiring specialists such as epidemiologists and nurse practitioners, amid the region’s higher housing costs.

“It is not unusual for people to consider jobs here, and say, ‘Yes, I’d like to work here, but I can’t afford to live here.’ It’s concerning for us, our regional hospital and just about any business.”

This story has been updated to reflect an updated number of COVID-related deaths in Spokane County.