Andrea Palm led Wisconsin's pandemic response. Now she's the No. 2 official in Biden's Health and Human Service Department

Andrea Palm has gotten something in Washington, D.C., that she never got in Wisconsin: a confirmation.

Palm, who led Wisconsin's response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the two years she spent as secretary-designee of the state Department of Health Services, was never confirmed by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

But she was confirmed last week for the No. 2 position at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on a bipartisan 61-37 vote after being introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat.

During an interview this week with the Journal Sentinel — her first since being sworn in as HHS deputy secretary on May 12 — Palm stressed the importance of getting vaccinated, reflected on her time in Wisconsin and talked about her priorities in her new role. She also discussed President Joe Biden's focus on rebuilding and recovery, including addressing issues like mental health, preventing lead poisoning and access to care.

"He very clearly believes that that 'Building Back Better' is what we should be doing. We shouldn't just be comfortable with getting back to the way it was, when we have an opportunity to improve our economic well-being, to support families to be successful more readily," Palm said. "I'm really grateful and feel very lucky to be able to be a part of that and look forward to continuing to partner with Wisconsin to get the good work for the people that we serve done."

Vaccination 'is going to liberate us'

Palm stressed the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine when it comes to getting back to normal.

"It is vaccination that is going to liberate us from the pandemic," she said.

Earlier this month, Biden set a new goal of 70% of adults in the U.S. getting at least one dose of the vaccine by the Fourth of July.

Palm said federal, state and local officials are "making considerable progress towards that goal" and are focused on improving access to vaccines and working to reduce hesitancy.

"Wisconsin is doing it and other states are doing it, and we are doing it at the federal level — really launching efforts to bring more folks to vaccines and to bring more vaccines to people," she said.

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As of Thursday, about 46% of Wisconsin residents have received at least one dose of vaccine. Vaccinations have been lagging in recent weeks.

Palm said physicians and trusted messengers in communities will be key when it comes to expanding vaccinations "in hopes of not only reaching our goal but really getting to a place where we are liberated to really get back to life as normal."

"It is the boots on the ground and where the rubber hits the road that's going to be most important because that's where the trusted voices live," she said. "So our partnership with our states and in our local communities to really reach people is going to be critical. And there's a lot of focus here at HHS in doing just that so that we can increase our vaccination numbers as much as possible."

'We're all in this together'

Palm faced her share of criticism in Wisconsin, especially from Republican lawmakers and other conservatives.

GOP state senators refused to confirm her for two years after Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, picked her to lead the state's health agency in January 2019.

Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Republicans challenged her and Evers' efforts to respond, suing to block Wisconsin's stay-at-home order and mask mandate.

She faced another round of criticism from Wisconsin GOP lawmakers after she was nominated for the HHS deputy secretary job in January. 

U.S. Reps. Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Tiffany, both Republicans and both members of the Wisconsin Senate at the start of the pandemic, sent a letter in April to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance asking members to reject Palm's nomination. They argued she was unfit for the job because of the state's slow vaccine rollout early on, delayed classification of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and the stay-at-home order she authorized during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. 

But that letter failed to block her nomination and she easily cleared the Senate Finance Committee on a 20-8 bipartisan vote.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra praised Palm, who previously served as senior counselor to the HHS secretary under President Barack Obama, as a "lifelong public servant" when she was sworn in. 

"Ms. Palm brings valuable experience and deep knowledge to this role," he said. "I have no doubt she will hit the ground running and be a crucial partner as we work tirelessly to tackle this pandemic, expand affordable health care and build a healthier country for all Americans."

Palm's critics have gone quiet recently, especially as Wisconsin picked up the pace of its vaccinations — building one of the fastest vaccination rates in the country, with about 90% of its doses having been administered.

Despite the resistance she faced from Wisconsin Republicans, Palm said lessons she learned in Wisconsin have helped prepare her for the new job.

"It very much reminded me of where I grew up — I grew up in upstate New York, and in a very rural part of the state. This sort of 'We're all in this together' and 'Let's just solve a problem' kind of culture and attitude I think is very present in Wisconsin. And really paid dividends for us as a state during the pandemic," she said. 

Palm said she believes the sense of community and understanding that people should do their part helped slow the spread.

"I'm very fond of Wisconsin. It did feel like home to me," Palm said. "I really do take many lessons from my work there."

She said leading Wisconsin's COVID-19 response also reinforced for her the importance of public health leaders and trusting science.

"I think one of the things this experience taught me, and I think that the pandemic taught all of us, is the importance of our government, the importance of our public health infrastructure in delivering for people," Palm said. "We had to rely on their expertise, on their scientific knowledge, on their advice and guidance in a situation that was rapidly evolving and where we were learning new things every day."

She added that the state Department of Health Services and local public health officials worked to "make sure that we were being led by science, by the facts."

Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary of DHS, credited Palm with helping to build a vast network of COVID-19 vaccine providers throughout the state.

"This whole idea that you've seen roll out in Wisconsin, which is we're going to have many different providers. We're gonna make vaccine available through many different lanes in our health and community-based system," Willems Van Dijk said.  "She was very much part of embracing that strategy."

She said the decision to register a large number of providers "turned out to be a pretty cumbersome process," but has paid off.

She added that Palm is "incredibly data driven."

"She wants to know what's happening day by day. I know she kept her own spreadsheets of cases, of deaths, of vaccination rates," Willems Van Dijk said. "She sets goals and then helps her team monitor those goals, and adapt as you go."

'Treating a person as a whole person'

The disruption and despair of the COVID-19 pandemic have worsened mental health and substance abuse problems for many people.

"The pandemic I think has only laid that bare and we have sadly seen less access to mental health and substance abuse services during the pandemic," Palm said. "For starters, we've got to double down and get folks back into care who either were in care and fell out of it during the pandemic or who newly need it because of their experience in the pandemic."

She stressed the need to put people at the center of their health care, including mental health and substance abuse treatment.

"It's all connected," Palm said. "I think there's a lot of good opportunities for us at HHS to do good work to make sure that we're treating people as whole people, and that health care really is about both your mental and your physical health."

On Tuesday, HHS announced that its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is distributing $3 billion in American Rescue Plan funding. The agency said it's the largest aggregate amount of funding to date for mental health and substance use block grant programs.

Palm said no one should be ashamed if they are having mental health issues.

"It's not just 'them.' It's all of us who can have behavioral health issues," Palm said. "And we need to systematically and without stigma provide access to treatment that's effective and that helps people be the healthiest they can be for themselves, for their families, for communities as a whole to really thrive and be healthy." 

Mental health resources

If you are in emotional crisis or supporting someone in crisis, consider reaching out to a helpline:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255

National Crisis Text Line: Text "Hopeline" to 741-741

Mobile Urgent Treatment Team for Milwaukee County residents: 414-257-7621 

Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.