05.15.20

Sullivan Honors Alaskans of the Week: Adam Crum and Anne Zink

WASHINGTON, DC – On the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) recognized Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum and Alaska's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink, both of whom have shown tremendous leadership during this pandemic. Senator Sullivan recognized Commissioner Crum and Dr. Zink as part of his series, “Alaskan of the Week.”

TRIBUTE TO ADAM CRUM AND DR. ANNE ZINK:

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is Thursday, and I am back on the Senate floor, partaking in one of my favorite times of the week, which is to come down to the floor and talk about somebody who is making a great difference in my State. We call this individual our Alaskan of the Week. To those who watch the floor back home, sometimes we break the rules a little bit and recognize more than one person. We just call them the Alaskans of the Week, with an ``s.'' Pandemic or no pandemic, I think it is still important that we come down and recognize, particularly during these challenging times, people who are making a difference in our State and across our country.

As I mentioned last week, this pandemic is definitely testing the character of our Nation. You might remember, right when it was hitting, some reporters from the Washington Post wrote a story, saying that Americans are going to be tested and that they don't think they are going to be able to pass--maybe not like they had in World War II and at other times--that the mettle, the toughness, and the resiliency of Americans might not be able to get us through this. That was the Washington Post--classic, clueless, inside-the-beltway reporting.

In my remarks on the floor--this was about 6 weeks ago--I said: You ought to come up to Alaska, Washington Post, and see my constituents, or maybe come out with my Marines and see the Marines.

You have to know America. Alaska is America, and we are going to pass this test as a nation, and we are--all across the country and certainly in my great State. In small, rural villages and in urban centers, from the tundra to the rainforests, all across the State, people are helping each other. They are passing out food. They are helping the elderly, making sure they are not lonely. They are tending to those in need and are displaying generosity, strength, and amazing resilience. The paper should write more about that.

Our frontline workers have now become our national heroes. Some of them are working day in and day out to ensure that our grocery stores are stocked, that the goods are transported, that the buildings are maintained, that our telecommunication systems are running, that our airplanes are flying, that our hospitals are open, and that our community healthcare workers can give care. The list, as we all know, goes on and on and on.

Because of those back home, because of these great Americans all around our country, and because of what is happening in my State with our State's leadership, Alaska has done well from a health standpoint in terms of this virus. Knock on wood, of course--and I am doing it--things could change. They could change anywhere. They certainly could change in Alaska, but so far so good.

Alaskans are known for their rugged individualism. Alaskans are not naturally people who automatically follow orders without having a good reason to do so, but almost everybody across our State has taken this virus seriously in their helping one another and in their following the guidance that has been given by our

State's leaders. I chalk that up to good leadership from our very attentive mayors--city mayors, borough mayors--to our local leaders across the State, to our Governor, Mike Dunleavy, and to the healthcare team he put together in his administration that was ready when this pandemic hit.

I am going to talk about the healthcare team. It has been led by the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Adam Crum, and by Alaska's chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink. Both of them are our Alaskans of the week. They have both worked day and night throughout these past several weeks since this pandemic has hit our Nation, has hit my State, and they have been trying around the clock to keep our fellow Alaskans safe. As I mentioned, both are more than deserving of this very, very prestigious award. They have risen to the challenge in so many impressive ways in working for their State and their country.

As Alaskans do, both of them have interesting life stories, compelling life stories. Let me tell you a little bit about both of them.

Adam Crum lives in Wasilla with Colleen, his wife. He was born and raised in Alaska. He grew up on the Kenai Peninsula and went to Homer High School. He was a graduate there and a good football player. He went to Northwestern and walked on the football team. That is Big Ten football. That takes a lot of guts--center, guard, offensive lineman. He did great there.

In fact, look at the Crums, his siblings. They are a big family--impressive, a big group. There are brains and brawn in that family. Adam's three brothers all played college ball--Joey at Puget Sound, Richie at the University of Idaho, and Cody at West Texas A&M. Their dad also played at the University of Arkansas. Like I said, when you line up the Crum brothers, you look like you have a serious pro-football offensive line right there. It is an impressive family.

Adam enjoyed Northwestern and playing ball there, but on his first visit back home from college, he began to realize just how unique the great State of Alaska was where he grew up. He said:  “For me, I really didn't appreciate it until I actually went someplace else.''

Like all of us who love the outdoors, the scenery, the diversity, the opportunities, when he moved back from college, he was committed to coming back to our State to serve our State. He went into his family business. He got his master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. Then, when Governor Dunleavy, whom I mentioned, was elected in November of 2018, Adam was offered the job of commissioner of Health and Social Services.

His starting date was going to be December 3, 2018, but in Alaska, there are always adventures and challenges, and on November 30, the south central part of our State got hit with a huge shock, a huge earthquake--7.1. There were cracking and collapsing roads and highways. It damaged buildings, destroyed schools, knocked out power, and sent people scrambling outside and under furniture. It really damaged homes. So Adam, who was going to start this job in 3 days, said: I am going to start now. He moved up the start date and got to work.

It was a crash course in health emergency operations. Brand new on the job, his Health and Social Services department was in touch with all the hospitals, all the prisons, the elder care facilities, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. He watched and led these operations, everybody working together. Here is the miracle: In this huge earthquake during rush hour in Alaska, not one life was lost. It was remarkable--literally a miracle. He learned how to bring people together in emergency operations. That exercise was invaluable with what came next, and we all know what came next--the pandemic which has rocked our State, our country, and really our world.

Alaska's chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, appears with Commissioner Adam Crum and Governor Dunleavy nearly every night to address Alaskans and our media in a press conference about where we are with regard to the health of our State and this coronavirus. Versions of this scene happen nearly every night across the country as Governors are addressing their public.

But I am willing to venture to say that if there is a marker of success with such briefings, it is this: how much the people are trusting of what is being told to them. I would state that Alaska's healthcare team, Commissioner Crum and Dr. Zink, have passed with flying colors.

Dr. Zink is certainly one of the stars of this nightly show as she appears from her yurt in her backyard in Palmer, AK. She has become so popular in Alaska that there is even a Facebook page dedicated to her called  “Think like Zink.'' Rorie Watt, Juneau's city manager, actually wrote an ode in her honor. It is a lengthy poem, and it starts like this:

 

       Oh Alaska, I love you and it feels like we are teetering on

     the brink; who can guide and steer us? The unflappable Dr.

     Zink!

 

You know if a poem is written about you, you are doing a good job.

Dr. Zink was raised in Colorado with physician parents. She was no stranger to Alaska. She worked as a mountaineering guide in Alaska during college. So after getting her M.D. from Stanford, she made her way back to our great State 11 years ago and has worked as an ER doctor in the Matanuska Valley.

Last July, she was with her family in Bhutan on a yearlong sabbatical when she got a call from Adam Crum, asking her to come to be the State's Chief Medical Officer. Commissioner Crum, speaking like a true Big Ten football player, said: “She was my number 1 draft pick.''

So Commissioner Crum made the smart decision to bring on Dr. Zink to the medical team and healthcare team that he leads. Commissioner Crum and Dr. Zink have, along with the rest of the country, been closely watching the virus migrate from China to the United States since the early stages. Remember what happened when the State Department brought our diplomats home from Wuhan. A planeload of our diplomats were coming home, and they had to stop in Anchorage on January 28 for a refueling stop. We later learned that nobody on the plane actually had the virus, but Commissioner Crum and Dr. Zink started to get our State ready. They prepared for the worst, contacting local and Tribal medical facilities. They were in constant coordination with the CDC. They were in communications with all the State agencies and divisions and, very, very importantly, with the public.

This began their outreach to our citizens. They have continued that frenzied pace ever since, working day and night with the Governor's office to try their best to keep the virus at bay, to keep our citizens healthy, and so far it is working.

Like other places, businesses in Alaska have been shut down and are now slowly beginning to open back up. We need to open back up. We need to keep our citizens healthy, but we need to get our economy open and moving again.

Among the other precautions, the Governor established a ban for a time on travel throughout the State and a 14-day quarantine still in place for anybody who comes from outside of Alaska to the State. Commissioner Crum said that mandate was probably the most effective thing they have done so far to keep the virus from spreading. 

Again, that doesn't mean it can't flare up in Alaska. It has flared up in other parts of our country. For example, we have some 200 villages that are not connected by roads and many of which do not have healthcare facilities. If they do have them, they are very, very limited. These communities were hit very hard by the Spanish flu, so there is a lot of trepidation in rural Alaska.

We have a fishing season that will start and will begin to bring people in from out of State--thousands of people--to work in Alaska. This is very important for our economy, but the communities need to feel safe. I have raised this issue with the President, the Vice President, and the Chief of Staff, and to their credit they have responded.

As a matter of fact, right now we have a doctor from DHS who is going around the State, with Dr. Zink and others, who was sent there by Admiral Brett Giroir, the HHS Assistant Secretary, in charge of testing. They are all out there. They are going to be in Kodiak, Bristol Bay, and Cordova, trying to make sure that our fishing communities are ready. 

When the admiral called me, he said: We are working with the State, Senator Sullivan. This direction is from the highest senior officials in the White House to get out there and bring resources to your fishing communities, and I will say, working with Dr. Zink, she is one of the top medical officers in the country. This is Admiral Giroir speaking about Dr. Zink.

So as you can tell, the utmost diligence is required and so is planning, communication, and bringing people along, particularly when you are asking them to take extreme measures. Again, because of the leadership we have, it is something that I think so far is going well in our State. 

Commissioner Crum said: Alaskans are contrarian by nature. They want to be educated. They don't want to be forced. When they were told that it was the right thing to do, to comply with the mandates--that if we do this now, it will hurt less later--they did it. 

Alaskans did this. Commissioner Crum continued: It was the most painful thing I've ever done--asking people to close their businesses. But not as painful as it was for the people who actually had to shut down their business. But Alaskans complied and we worked together.

True leaders emerge during times of crisis. We are grateful that these two leaders emerged for us in Alaska. They are working, along with the Governor and the rest of his team, to do a very good job for our State.

Like I said, we aren't past this. We have enormous challenges in our Nation and huge economic challenges in our State, but we know a few things. We have good people at the top who are guiding us, and we know that Alaskans will do the right thing when they are asked by these people. We also know that we are resilient, our State, our people, and our Nation.

In a recent interview, Dr. Zink said that one of her big takeaways throughout this entire pandemic is just how important resilience is and how very resilient Alaska is. She said, “Adversity can bring out the best and worst in people, and we have a choice to grow in response to the challenges or crumble from them.''

Well, as I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, I am convinced that Alaska will grow from these challenges and that America will grow from these challenges, and I am convinced that what we are seeing all around our State and our Nation is amazing generosity, people working together through these difficult times. We will emerge stronger and more resilient.

So I want to thank two leaders in our State who are responsible, in many ways, for getting us through, so far so good, on the health side, Commissioner Crum and Dr. Zink. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your hard work and your sacrifice. Thank you for stepping up and congratulations on being our Alaskans of the Week.

I yield the floor.

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