Whalen wages the good fight

HAYDEN — Lora Whalen landed her first job when she was in ninth grade in Decorah in northeast Iowa, the town of her youth. She worked at Whippy Dip, which served up soft ice cream.

It opened in 1954 and it’s still there today.

“Of course, that’s one of the things you have to do when you go back to Decorah is go to Whippy Dip and get a crunch cone,” said Whalen, who recently returned home to visit her father.

The director of the Panhandle Health District has been working hard ever since, leaving in her wake a distinguished career.

She served in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of captain and assistant nurse manager of the Army hospital emergency department. She was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal.

She earned bachelor degrees in nursing and Spanish at the University of Iowa.

She and husband Pat moved to Idaho in 1991, so they could be near their favorite place, Glacier National Park.

She worked at Sacred Heart, then at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Spokane. Her work as a nurse manager earned her a V.A. commendation for high standards in leadership and management roles.

Bigger challenges were ahead.

Whalen joined PHD in 2001 to lead the Family and Community Health division, which handles PHD's clinical, WIC, epidemiology, and health promotion services. She took over as PHD’s director in 2010.

Retiring when she turned 60, which was last year, was a goal she and Pat discussed — until the coronavirus came calling in North Idaho.

“No way I was going to leave in the middle of what looked to me like it was going to need a lot of attention and that proved to be very true,” she said.

This past year and a half, guiding the district through the coronavirus, took a toll on Whalen, her staff — "it took a toll on everyone,” she said.

“It’s been a challenge but a good challenge to stay in front of the game and try to understand and do what we can to keep folks informed. And we realized the reason we’re doing this is to protect our hospital capacity.”

Today, with the coronavirus under better control in America as new cases decline, the rollout of vaccines and restrictions being eased, Whalen decided it is time to call it a career.

She recently told the board that her final day as PHD director will be June 30.

“I think COVID is going to be with us for a while but we’re nowhere near where we were a year and a half ago. So we decided to pull the trigger,” she said.

At 61, Whalen has a lot of life ahead of her. She is healthy and positive. She feels like she is in her 30s. She runs, rides her Peloton and lifts weights.

“I’m addicted to exercise,” she said, smiling.

She certainly won’t run out of things to do.

“I’m somebody who is always busy,” Whalen said.

She wants to visit Glacier more often and hike on her favorite trails. She loves to read books. She plans to visit her children, Angie and Nathan, spend time with her husband at the Hayden home they moved to from Post Falls last year, and yes, stay involved in the community.

For Whalen, it's time to relax.

“I really want to try retirement and see how I do,” she said. “I just want to have a North Idaho summer.”

One of four children of Jim and Nola Blodgett, Whalen learned the value of hard work growing up in Decorah.

“We always had chores when we were young,” she said.

There was that job at the Whippy Dip. At 15, she was an exchange student in El Salvador. She waitressed throughout her college years and spent two summers working at Glacier National Park. Her time in the military proved critical later in her career.

“You certainly learn a lot about leadership in the military and I think that’s what led me here,” she said.

Being PHD’s director has been an honor, Whalen said. Her range of responsibilities included personnel, financial, health, management and relationships in the community. Her bosses were basically the commissioners of the five northern counties.

“So I have a lot of bosses,” she said, laughing.

She takes pride in “seeing the good that public health can do and does.”

“It’s political. I can’t say that I 100 percent enjoy that aspect of it, but it is interesting,” she said.

Don Duffy, PHD health services administrator, will step in as interim director July 1. The PHD board will go through the process to find a new director.

Any advice for her successor?

She paused and said the learning curve is steep because of PHD’s diverse array of programs — environments, regulatory, clinical, health promotion.

“Whoever sits in this chair really needs to be able to have some credible communication and interpersonal skills,” Whalen said. “And be able to communicate with all sorts of folks.”

And deal with the arrival of a virus that shut down much of the country for a time.

When COVID arrived in North Idaho, PHD stepped up. Whalen and staff arrived in the office early, left late, and worked weekends. She wanted PHD to have the latest and best reports and studies on the virus. They learned as they went.

“Certainly there was a hunger for information,” Whalen said.

As the virus spread, she maintained a consistent message: wear masks, social distance, wash hands, sanitize. Many listened.

That vaccines proved to be effective has helped, she said, but a tough part was — and still is — dealing with “misinformation.”

“I would say we had trouble overriding all the misinformation out there,” she said, and adding, “and couldn’t overcome in many cases.”

Not everyone was respectful about it, either.

There was some yelling and “some of the things people write have not been kind.”

“And folks that chose to believe that information and voice that belief in a manner that’s not civil. And that hurts me because that hurts my staff.

“But for the most part, people have been great,” she said.

Whalen believes health officials have a handle on the situation. More than 60% of Kootenai County’s population over age 65 has been vaccinated, and overall, nearly 40 percent has had at least one dose of a vaccine.

“Now we’re just trying to get the word out that this vaccine works and this is a tool where you can feel relatively safe,” she said.

Positivity rates, new cases, hospitalizations, have been key indicators in how the fight is going. They are down from where they once were, but this battle isn't over just yet.

“A small percentage of people get very, very ill with this," Whalen said. "And it’s not just your 70 and 80-year-old folks."

Asked about the best part of her job, she said, without hesitation, “the people and the relationships."

While staff members have come and gone, “I think right now we certainly have the A team,” she said.

Any final thoughts to share with the community?

“I just want to thank them. Everyone. Regardless of how they feel about COVID. For what we’ve all been through and what we’ll continue to go through. I just ask everyone to please be kind.”

When it comes to countering the coronavirus, Whalen was glad to do her part.

“I feel fortunate to have been part of this solution to a global pandemic,” she said. “I’m humbled.”