[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5162]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        CONGRATULATING SECRETARY MARY SELECKY ON HER RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ADAM SMITH

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 12, 2013

  Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor and 
congratulate Mary Selecky, the Washington State Secretary of Health, on 
her retirement.
  Secretary Selecky has served three governors since first being 
appointed Acting Secretary by Gov. Gary Locke in October 1998. Her 
nearly fifteen years as Washington's Secretary of Health make her one 
of the longest-serving state health leaders in the country.
  Before being named Secretary, Selecky was the administrator for the 
Northeast Tri County Health District in Washington for nearly 20 years 
and 2013 marks her 38th year in public service.
  During her time as Secretary, she has served the public through 
trying times, including the Nisqually earthquake, the days following 9/
11, bioterrorism threats, and outbreaks of mad cow disease and whooping 
cough. With her staff, she has helped make the Puget Sound cleaner and 
shellfish safer. She has also worked to make the Washington State 
Department of Health a trusted, credible source of health information, 
and has helped to develop one of the strongest local-state public 
health relationships in the nation.
  Secretary Selecky has made it her mission to implement a preventative 
health care program in our state that is effective and which can serve 
as a model for the nation. Under Selecky's leadership, Washington's 
adult smoking rate has dropped 30 percent and youth smoking rates are 
down by half. Childhood vaccination rates are also the highest in 
years. It is clear that Selecky's work will ripple through the 
generations and we will be healthier for her efforts.
   Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I recognize and 
congratulate Mary Selecky on her retirement and for her longtime 
service to Washington State.

                          ____________________