Every  year the CDC evaluates each of the states on their public health preparedness performance.  Arizona continued to score high marks on this year’s preparedness report card.  We got a perfect score this year for biological laboratory testing, and we’ve kept our excellent performance measures for incident management, medical countermeasures, and public information.  Our response times for activating our emergency operation center have been well above the national target for the last three years, and our chemical laboratory detection capabilities have been fully “demonstrated” and “passed” for two years running.

Our state’s Strategic National Stockpile program received a special mention on page 18 of the report.  ADHS, along with Maricopa and Pinal Counties, conducted a full-scale exercise to distribute life-saving medications to the public.  This national recognition demonstrates the hard work of our preparedness staff and our local health department partners.  Thanks to all of you for your hard work through the years to get us to this stage of readiness.

You can view this year’s National Snapshot report to see how Arizona compares to the rest of the nation.  You can take steps to make sure your family is prepared too – check out my blog from last Spring – the Family is the First Responder.