Whitehouse takes job with CARD

Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a board-certified chest physician from Spokane, is taking a job with the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby.

Whitehouse has maintained a private practice of pulmonary medicine for the past 33 years and has become both friend and physician to many Libby residents. He has served as the CARD clinic¹s primary consultant, providing expertise and support to CARD medical director Dr. Brad Black and the clinic¹s staff.

Whitehouse is the long-time medical director of the respiratory therapy department at Sacred Heart Medical Center and past president of the Washington Thoracic Society.

³I am thrilled that our current CARD patients, as well as some 400 Lincoln County residents Dr. Whitehouse currently treats in Spokane, will now have the opportunity to receive optimum specialty care right here at the CARD in Libby,² Black said. ³With Alan joining our staff as chief pulmonologist, it greatly enhances the CARD¹s role in patient care and service, as well as providing a springboard for the establishment of our Libby research center.²

Whitehouse said Libby has been good to him and he is excited to become a bigger part of the community.

³I felt it was important to follow through with my treatment of Libby residents to a logical conclusion, as I¹d like to see some stability and a healthcare solution to asbestos-related disease in place for the long term,² he said.

Whitehouse will also be involved in the Committee for Asbestos Related Research, which serves as a national advisory committee to the CARD with the goal of making the Libby research center a reality.

Whitehouse¹s move to the Libby area is expected to be completed this fall. During the transition period, Whitehouse will be in Libby increasingly more often.

Whitehouse said that while his first passion is treating his patients, a close second is fishing on the Kootenai River.

The CARD clinic began at St. John¹s Lutheran Hospital and became an independent nonprofit entity on April 1, 2003. The clinic provides diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and specialty care for people with asbestos-related disease as well as education and outreach for individuals and families who are facing issues involving asbestos-related disease.

For more information on the programs provided by the CARD, call 293-9274.