[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 91 (Thursday, May 14, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2466-S2468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 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

[[Page S2467]]

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 Human 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

[[Page S2468]]

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.

                          ____________________