Senator John Tester proposed an amendment to a bill on Monday that could help Libby, Montana to ramp up its inadequately staffed hospitals.
Libby is the home of the W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine, now closed, that pumped asbestos containing waste into the community for nearly one hundred years. The processed vermiculite ore, which contains dangerous amounts of cancer causing asbestos, was delivered into the community for use as potting soil, sports field coverings, paving additives and more.
Asbestos causes mesothelioma, a terminal cancer of the tissue lining the body’s organs, as well as a myriad of other health problems. Some 1,200 people in Libby have been affected by the toxic substance, a fact which is putting plenty of pressure on area hospitals.
Tester’s motion would amend a federal program known as the National Health Service Corps, which has been in place since the 1970′s, to create new incentives for medical specialists to work in and around Libby. The program was originally aimed at general practitioners, and promised medical school scholarships and loan repayments to doctors who agreed to work in rural areas otherwise considered less than profitable.
The amendment would allow specialists to receive benefits as well, granted they’re willing to work in areas recognized as a “public health emergency” by the Environmental Protection Agency. Libby, Montana, as of June 2009, is the only location in the United States with that recognition.
“This is going to really open some doors,” said Senator John Tester Monday, while he was delivering his plan.
Tester believes that Libby’s rural location, unlikelihood of supporting multiple affluent practices, and asbestos contamination problems constitute a considerable deterrent to many would be area specialists.
“It is increasingly difficult,” reads Tester’s bill, “for the health care facilities in [areas like Libby] to recruit the specialists necessary.”
