Cara M. Christ

/Cara Christ

About Cara Christ

Cara M. Christ, MD, Director Arizona Department of Health Services

Testing Our Ability to Rapidly Respond to Public Health Emergencies

By | December 21st, 2016|Preparedness|

Our Bureau of Public Health Emergency Preparedness focuses on preparing for, responding to, and recovering from public health emergencies and disasters that are natural or human-caused. One of our preparedness strategies is to test our notification and alerting system, the Arizona Health Alert System (AzHAN) by initiating call down drills. Call down drills test the validity of ADHS's call [...]

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ADHS Making the Grade

By | December 20th, 2016|General|

Throughout the year, a multitude of agencies release annual reports that attempt to grade states on their preparedness to respond to public health emergencies. Some years these reports use similar indicators to assign state scores, but indicators often vary from year to year. These reports look at areas both within and outside of a health [...]

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Traveling this Winter? Make Sure to Fight the Bite!

By | December 19th, 2016|General, Preparedness|

With the holiday season upon us, you may be planning to travel to visit family and friends or to see different climates. Whatever the reason, it is important to take steps to stay safe while traveling. Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website to view any travel notices and to check areas of [...]

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Help Protect Our Communities by Never Drinking and Driving

By | December 15th, 2016|Prevention|

Every year in Arizona, almost 300 people are killed in alcohol-related crashes. Many deaths occur around the holidays when people are more likely to be celebrating with friends and family. What make these deaths so heartbreaking is that they are preventable. The first and foremost step is never get behind the wheel if you have [...]

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Program Successfully Reduces Unhealthy Lead Levels in Children

By | December 14th, 2016|Preparedness|

Every year our Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program receives more than 65,000 blood lead test results from laboratories and providers for children across the state. Our epidemiologist reviews these results every day to make sure children with elevated blood lead levels will receive proper care. When a child is identified with elevated blood lead levels, [...]

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ADHS and Our Partners Continued Zika Planning Efforts

By | December 13th, 2016|Preparedness|

Last week we hosted a Zika Capability Assessment Workshop that was attended by more than 100 tribal, county, state, and federal partners as part of the Arizona Zika-preparedness collaborative. Attendees worked together to identify current response activities, document plans for future efforts, and identify areas for improvement. The workshop included presentations on the history of Zika [...]

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New Surgeon General’s Report Highlights Need to Protects Youth from E-Cigarettes

By | December 12th, 2016|Prevention|

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy published a report last week on the emerging public health threat related to the e-cigarette/vape use among youth. While this report is the 33rd Surgeon General's report in 53 years to address the impact of tobacco on health, it's important to note that it is the first to focus on e-cigarettes. [...]

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Arizona Success in Protecting People from Secondhand Smoke is a Model for the Nation

By | December 8th, 2016|Prevention|

The successful smoke-free programs we have been working on in Arizona for people living in multi-unit housing have been expanded nationwide. Over the last several years, three Arizona organizations, the Arizona Smoke-Free Living Coalition, American Lung Association in Arizona, and the Arizona Multihousing Association, under the leadership of our Bureau of Tobacco and Chronic Disease, [...]

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Licensing Team makes Extreme Improvements to Critical Review Process

By | December 7th, 2016|Licensing|

Our Health Care Institution Branch Licensing Architectural Team has successfully streamlined processes, maximized resources and reduced the time it takes to review and approve architectural plans and specifications required by rule. This is critically important because architectural plans and specifications must meet the adopted 2010 Facility Guidelines Institute regulations before a new health care institution [...]

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We are Celebrating National Influenza Vaccination Week December 4-10

By | December 6th, 2016|Preparedness|

For millions of people every season, flu causes symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle aches, fatigue, and miserable days spent in bed. Even more seriously, influenza results in hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths each year. Luckily, there are vaccines that can help to prevent the [...]

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