I was stunned to read that even one Mat-Su resident was calling for Dr. Anne Zink’s resignation as Alaska’s chief medical officer.
I knew and worked with Dr. Zink throughout the 2010s, as the Mat-Su Valley health system was increasingly overwhelmed by behavioral health patients flooding into the emergency room of Valley Hospital, where Dr. Zink was the department head. She was coordinating with state and local social and emergency response service agencies to find real, workable solutions, all the while working incredibly long hours serving Valley residents in need of serious emergency medical services.
The Mat-Su is incredibly fortunate to have a doctor of Anne Zink’s skill, energy and compassion continuing to work for their hospital while also serving as the State’s CMO. Any criticism of her by Mat-Su residents is incredibly short-sighted, as it could lead her to decide to simply find work elsewhere. That would be such a huge loss for Valley residents, given how difficult it is to fill medical positions these days, especially in hospitals and ERs.
It also tells you what people like gubernatorial candidate Christopher Kurka, conservative activist Mike Coons and his few supporters are truly like, when they start a “Fire Anne Zink” campaign without any apparent thought as to what Dr. Zink has for years provided to the community in which they live.
Coons is clearly clueless as to the harm politicizing health care can have on the quality of care for Alaskans, not to mention those within his own community who are fortunate to have Dr. Zink providing amazing care at the Valley emergency room. What’s the phrase? “Cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face.”
— Randall Burns
Anchorage
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