Public health pioneer Larry Belmont dies, leaves lasting Kootenai legacy

Larry Belmont, the first director of the Panhandle Health District, died Friday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 89. Belmont's death marks the loss of a formative figure in regional public health whose work helped shape water protections, sanitation policy and community health services across Kootenai County and the four neighboring northern counties.

Belmont led Panhandle Health from 1971 to 1997 and was widely remembered for prioritizing population health over political and economic pressures. His oft-cited mantra, "When public health does its job, it's invisible," guided efforts to prevent harm before it became visible in hospitals and courtrooms. Colleagues say that approach helped institutionalize public health practices at the local level during a period of rapid growth across the Rathdrum Prairie and Coeur d'Alene Basin.

"He was at the cutting edge of the implementation of public health at the local level," said Ken Lustig, who worked for Belmont for 27 years. Belmont pushed municipalities to move from septic systems to sewer systems to protect groundwater, and he led local efforts to protect the Sole Source Aquifer beneath the Rathdrum Prairie. He also played a role in highlighting contamination and health concerns tied to the Bunker Hill/Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund Site, work that intersected with environmental justice and long-term community health.

Belmont expanded access to home health services across five northern counties, and he hired Kay Kindig in 1987; Kindig later succeeded him as director. Beyond the health district, Belmont helped start Hospice of North Idaho with a $30,000 grant, supporting the region's early movement toward dignified, in-home end-of-life care. "From our earliest beginnings as a small advisory group to the fully accredited nonprofit we are now, Larry helped pave the way with leadership rooted in compassion, collaboration and an unwavering belief that our community deserved dignified, comfort-focused end-of-life care," said Shawna Cauley, executive director of Hospice of North Idaho.

Staff who worked under Belmont remember him as a mentor and steady presence in the office. "He was always there for me. And it wasn’t just me; he was there for all of his employees. He had a tremendous amount of respect for us, as we did for him," said Lisa Manning.

Belmont's legacy is practical and policy-oriented: stronger infrastructure to protect drinking water, wider access to home and hospice care, and a public health culture that emphasized prevention and worker stewardship. For Kootenai County residents, those changes translated into cleaner wells, safer neighborhoods and services that reached people in their homes rather than waiting for illness to escalate.

The takeaway? Preserve the institutions and funding that keep public health steady through growth and crisis. Our two cents? Stay engaged at city council and county hearings where septic ordinances, water protections and public health budgets are decided — the invisible work Belmont valued depends on visible community support.