Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, was joined by Dr. Alexander Eastman, senior medical officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to take a tour of fishing communities in Alaska, as well as rural portions of the state. The doctors were also joined by Adam Crum, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Their tour took place last week.
Dr. Zink said that the goal of the tour was to not only learn what rural and fishing communities around the state are doing that is working, but to also talk with rural Alaskans about their needs so that Dr. Eastman can report those needs back to Washington.
She added: “It was great to get to see the communities, talk about what it takes. It was fantastic to talk about how hard it can get to be having swabs coming in and out of the port instead of having point-of-care testing. It was really important to share with our federal partners. Cordova was just a really fascinating place to hear their experiences and see the leadership and partnership between the tribal community, the hospital, the local businesses all trying to find ways, particularly around seafood and fishing and ways that they can promote things. The Mayor spends a lot of time on the dock talking to fishermen about what it means to keep the community safe. It was neat to see them all come together around that first case they had and what they’re doing.”
Dr. Eastman offered a preview of the trip before they left: “The orders are simple: deliver the absolute best of what the federal government has, the full array of resources to provide the necessary tactical assistance on the ground in those locations and then, again, to deliver real-world ground-truth back to the folks in Washington who need to have that information to make high-quality decisions.”
He added that the fishing season would have an impact on where the team traveled: “We’ve obviously got our eyes on upcoming events here, and certainly the start of the summertime commercial fishing season. I hope, over the next few days, we’ll be able to really deliver some high-quality high-impact ‘wins’ as we travel the state.”
The doctors toured what Governor Mike Dunleavy called a “cross-section of Alaska” that includes the villages of Teller and Stebbins before traveling to Cordova, Kodiak, and Bristol Bay communities including Dillingham and King Salmon.
Photos used courtesy Dr. Anne Zink’s Twitter.
