[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 70 (Thursday, April 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2227-S2228]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO TERESA GRAY AND RECOGNIZING MOBILE MEDICS INTERNATIONAL

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I want to say that it is Thursday, and 
it is my favorite time of week, 6 years' strong--almost 7 years--we 
have been doing our ``Alaskan of the Week'' series, and we love to do 
this because we get to recognize a special Alaskan, someone who makes 
the State very special.
  Our pages, I think they don't always admit it, but it is probably the 
best speech of the week because it is interesting and we have got some 
cool stories. I know some of the reporters here like the speech because 
it means we are at the end of the week so that is good.
  Today, we are honoring a really amazing Alaskan. Her name is Teresa 
Gray, of Anchorage, who was, by the way, recently featured by CNN as 
one of their heroes for the work her organization does that Teresa 
founded to provide medical help to people all over the globe.
  So, before I talk about Teresa and her amazing work, I always like to 
give a little update of what is going on in Alaska right now. I was 
home the last couple weeks traveling all over the State, and it didn't 
seem like too long ago when I had said: Hey, winter is coming. Winter 
is coming. Well, here is the good news. Well, I love winter, but winter 
is now leaving. It is leaving Alaska.
  Now, it is cold in many places. My house in Anchorage still has snow 
on the ground, but the Sun is now up high in the sky, staying up longer 
and longer every single day--although I was in Fairbanks and we had 
northern lights going. So that was awesome just last week. But today, 
in Anchorage, the Sun rose at 6 a.m. and set around 10 p.m. So it is 
getting long. It is gaining. We gain about 5 minutes a day during this 
time of the year. Birds are migrating back by the tens of thousands. 
The excitement of spring is everywhere.
  So to everybody watching, if you are thinking about great summer 
travel plans, Alaska is the place to be. So come on up. We would love 
to have you.
  So, now, let me talk about Teresa Gray and the organization she 
founded called Mobile Medics International, which is doing great work 
across the globe, even as we speak.
  Teresa is originally from Michigan. As a paramedic, she moved to 
Alaska in 1999 to be with her then-husband who was from Alaska. And 
like so many do when they come to Alaska, she fell in love with Alaska. 
Now, she wasn't really an outdoorsy type, but she said:

       I just felt at home.

  It is the people that she loves. She said the State has such a unique 
group of individuals.

       We [all] share a kindred spirit. We're all committed to 
     living the Alaska[n] way.

  That is what Teresa said. And for Teresa, the Alaskan way has been to 
put her medical skills to use. Now, initially, she worked as an 
instructor at the only paramedic school in the State, but within 6 
months, she bought the school and created two additional schools, one 
in Fairbanks and one in Wasilla, and made these very successful. Eight 
years later, she sold those to the University of Alaska.
  Then she became a flight medic for AeroMed, now known as LifeMed. She 
was a medical trainer for the Alaska Air National Guard unit, the 210th 
Rescue Squadron. These are very brave, intrepid PJs who do amazing work 
all over the State. And she also helped out with the Anchorage Fire 
Department.
  When they again adopted a child, their second adopted child, Teresa 
decided it was time to retire. An aside here--one of Teresa's children, 
Boyd Jorgensen, was a U.S. marine under my command, with the great unit 
ECHO Company 4th Reconnaissance Battalion up in Anchorage. So Semper 
Fi, Staff Sergeant. I hope you are watching.
  Let's talk about your mom.
  That retirement for Teresa didn't last long. One day, she was 
watching the news, and she saw the image--and I think a lot of us 
remember this image--of a 3-year-old Syrian refugee on the beach of 
Lesbos, face down in the water. It was very powerful. People all over 
the world saw that really ghastly image. She thought: Why isn't anybody 
doing anything about this?
  She realized, well, she should and she could. So she volunteered for 
an Irish medical nonprofit which took her to Greece and then to other 
places across the globe.
  It didn't take her long to see a need that wasn't being filled. There 
are a great many medical nonprofits, but the general model is that the 
doctors and other medical professionals arrive at a place and set up 
shop. The people in need of care come to them.
  But there are so many times Teresa witnessed people who couldn't 
leave their communities. In the case of Puerto Rico, there was a 
mudslide with limited access to a road that led to a village which 
hadn't received medical or any kind of help in over a week. People 
couldn't get a doctor there.

  So, back in Alaska, she put a call out on social media, and soon, 
Mobile Medics International was born. The group is focused on mobility, 
on getting to the barrios, to the villages, up in the mountains--hard 
places to get to, where she said that ``[s]o many places are lost or 
forgotten in disasters'' because they are so hard to get to.
  Roughly, 5 years later, the group now has roughly 120 volunteers from 
across the globe, including from Alaska, on nearly every continent. 
They have been on over 30 missions. They are agile. They are 
expeditionary. They are like the Marines. When they go to a place that 
has been hit by disaster or to a place experiencing a refugee crisis, 
everything they need is in a backpack.
  Teresa said:

       We can bring our own food, our own water, our own sleeping 
     accommodations. We try to take basically an ambulance in the 
     backpack.

  Great image. Great idea.
  If someone requires more extensive care, then they help get that 
individual to a medical facility, maybe in another part of the country.
  In addition to natural and humanitarian disasters, Mobile Medics 
International also trains people in medically underserved villages to 
provide treatment to others in their communities. So it is train the 
trainer. Teach someone to fish.
  They find people in those communities who are willing to commit to 5 
years to build their own program in that community, and they support 
them during that time. They visit a few times a year, get them 
equipped, get them supplies, get them training,

[[Page S2228]]

and then, all of a sudden, you have people in those communities who 
have these medical skills.
  Teresa talked about her team once going to a remote island in the 
Philippines where, because of a lack of nutrition, this remote island 
and the population had a really bad problem with cleft-palate babies. 
``Within three years,'' she said, ``we eliminated cleft-palate babies 
on that island by giving out prenatal vitamins.''
  Think about that. That is incredible work--one American with a vision 
making a huge difference in a place like the Philippines. Great work.
  So let's fast-forward to today. Where do you think she is? Where do 
you think they are?
  Well, they are on the frontlines in Ukraine and Romania to help with 
the refugee crisis there. They have four teams there. They are 
providing a 24-hour clinic in Romania and go person-to-person to help 
with medical care. They have organized a warehouse of donated goods. 
They have delivered supplies into Ukraine, and they are providing 
emotional support to people who really need it because of the barbaric 
invasion that has happened there.
  For Teresa and her group, helping during a refugee crisis is 
particularly emotional and wrenching. She said:

       Natural disasters can be horrific. A refugee crisis is even 
     more emotionally difficult.

  These are people who have lost everything, including their country, 
their heritage, and their language.
  She talked about how the Ukrainian refugee crisis is particularly 
challenging. ``All the men have been left behind,'' she said. You just 
have mothers, older men, young girls, and women whose entire life in 
Ukraine is now gone.
  Her people do more than just medical care. They provide emotional 
support as well. When she traveled to Romania, there was an elderly 
woman whom she was treating for health issues. The woman asked for a 
different kind of help. She asked that she and her son be driven to the 
border so she could see Ukraine for the last time--a Ukrainian woman 
just wanting to see her country--and Teresa did that.
  ``She asked for help, so we gave it to her,'' Teresa said.
  This is a great example of the drive, determination, vision, and hard 
work of just one person. Think about it. One person, Teresa Gray, with 
a vision--and how that vision and drive can change lives--hundreds of 
lives, thousands of lives.
  So, Teresa, thank you for providing so much help to so many. 
Congratulations for being chosen as a CNN hero; but more importantly, 
much more importantly--sorry, CNN--congratulations on being our Alaskan 
of the Week. You have really, really deserved it and made us all proud.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________