Libby Clinic Busy with Mesothelioma Screenings
In Libby, Montana, home to a vermiculite mine that is blamed for widespread contamination from asbestos exposure and for the deaths of more than 400 people, residents have access to regular health screenings for early detection of lung cancer or mesothelioma. However, with asbestos scarring in the lungs of potentially thousands in the area, the screening clinic is not staffed to handle the onslaught of patients, and some fear additional mesothelioma diagnoses will be the result.
Asbestos is a known carcinogen and is proven to cause mesothelioma, a serious cancer caused by breathing in the asbestos fibers that then become lodged in the thin membrane that lines and encases the lungs. With no known cure for mesothelioma, an emphasis is placed on early detection to minimize the impact of this deadly disease on those at-risk. Ideally, Libby residents will be screened every 6 months. With only one full-time doctor on staff and about 12 staff members, patients are being scheduled out a year to a year and a half.
The W.R. Grace vermiculite mine, shut down in 1990 and now a Superfund site, was found to have an asbestos deposit in the mine. Contamination from the site led the federal government to declare Libby a health emergency.
The number of patients to be seen is expected to grow due to a passage within the Health Care Reform Bill that expands Medicare to cover certain victims of “environmental health hazards,” including asbestos-related diseases. The clinic handling the screenings has posted a position for a new physician.
