As the holiday and gift giving season approaches, it’s important for parents and caregivers to remember to choose toys with care to keep children safe. Keep in mind the child’s age, interests and skill level. Look for quality design and construction in all toys. Make sure that all directions or instructions are clear. And plastic [...]
The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program is a federally funded program that provides vaccines at no cost to children who might not otherwise be vaccinated because of inability to pay. Here at ADHS, we partner with CDC to distribute these vaccines to nearly 900 private vaccine providers and public health clinics throughout the state. Maintaining [...]
Public health preparedness is critical to ensure rapid and effective response to emergencies, outbreaks, and disasters. For the last several years, CDC has released a national snapshot of states’ performance on key public health indicators. As we’ve seen year over year, Arizona continues to score high marks on preparedness. Like last year, this year we [...]
Foodborne illness has been in the news again with a norovirus outbreak striking a Chipotle restaurant and sickening over 100 Boston College students. Norovirus is a highly contagious stomach illness that can cause severe stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It's pretty uncomfortable, but most people start feeling better a day or two after they [...]
ADHS Office of Infectious Disease Services published a report last week in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describing concurrent outbreaks of West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus disease in Arizona. These outbreaks occurred from May through October this year, and resulted in over 100 illnesses . Co-outbreaks of these two diseases [...]
Nineteen Dietetic Interns from Arizona State University recently completed a public health nutrition rotation at the Arizona Department of Health Services. The two-week experience is part an internship which includes more than 1,200 hours of supervised practice required before taking the national exam to become a Registered Dietitian. The interns learned about a variety of [...]
Have you ever wondered how Arizona ranks among other states in overall health or specific health issues? For over 25 years, United Health Foundations has been publishing a report looking at four different categories of health determinants: behavioral, community, policy and environment, and clinical care. These reports provide a snap shot of state health. Today, the United Health Foundation released its America's [...]
The current issue of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services features an article on Telephone CPR written by Dr. Ben Bobrow, our EMS Medical Director, and Micah Panczyk, our Telephone CPR Program Manager. The article titled, “Telephone CPR Can Optimize Bystander Action in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest” is featured in the journal’s Medtronic Philanthropy and HeartRescue [...]
Data from the latest Child Fatality Review shows that more than 82 children less than one year old died in an unsafe sleep environment in Arizona last year. That is a devastating loss to our community, which is why providing education about safe sleeping environments is one of our top priorities. We have been working on reducing [...]
Have you received your flu shot yet? December 6 - 12 is the National Influenza Vaccination Week. It's not too late to get vaccinated; especially with the peak flu season coming up. See how quick and easy my experience was. While your arm might be a little sore; it's worth it to avoid getting sick. [...]
