Here you will find topics ranging from current events that affect public health in Arizona to overall information about the Arizona Department of Health Services
Did you know that 19.6% of people in Arizona live in poverty, and 1 in 5 households are unable to afford to buy food for their families It doesn't help that one of the places people turn to for help, St. Mary's Food Bank, reports that it has 40% less food on the shelves to [...]
For the 5th year in a row, we’re participating in the Undy 5000 fun walk/run on November 17th. This event helps increase awareness of colon cancer and encourages folks to bite the bullet and get screened. The run raises money for the Colon Cancer Alliance and half the profits stay here in Arizona. Half is spent [...]
Those who have been in Arizona for a while may know that Valley Fever is a lung infection caused by a fungus that is common in the soil here. In most cases, people with Valley Fever have very mild symptoms like cough, fatigue and shortness of breath that they may confuse with the common cold. [...]
Our Vital Health Statistics team along with our partners at the UA College of Public Health completed the 1st Annual Report for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Program this week. You’ll find a wide range of information in the report including data about the demographics and kinds and qualifying conditions of our cardholders, geographic distribution and rates [...]
I'm happy to announce that Tracey Sotelo has agreed to serve as the Executive Director of our Arizona Biomedical Research Commission. She comes to us from ADOA where she was a Manager in the Benefit Services Division. She has also served as a legal contracts specialist for Banner Research Institute where she reviewed, drafted, revised and negotiated research contracts for clinical trials and device [...]
Many of you have heard how I’d like to see the USDA’s food stamp program (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) hard-wire better nutrition into the program by beginning to include nutritious food inventory criteria for SNAP vendors. To help make the case, we contracted with the ASU School of Nutrition & [...]
Starting today, AHCCCS is reopening enrollment in the KidsCare II program. Arizona's Temporary Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is accepting applications again. Enrollment was suspended in September and many people were put on a wait list – those kids will be automatically enrolled and do not need to reapply. KidsCare II criteria include income guidelines [...]
ADHS joined the Wi-Fi Club … with I.T. installing 9 Wi-Fi hotspots in various conference rooms- with a few more to come. The “hotspots” provide wireless Internet connectivity for up to 10 devices per conference room. The password will be posted in each conference room where it’s available. Here’s the list of conference rooms that have Wi-Fi [...]
Helping fight hunger in our state is a worthy investment of anyone’s time. One in four children struggle with hunger in our state according the Arizona Association of Food Banks. To do their part… food banks in our state supply more than 11 million pounds of food every month. But the food banks rely on [...]
Every day at least 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the U.S. October is set aside to help bring awareness to the issue - across the country domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women aged 15-44. In Arizona last year, 108 individuals lost their lives to domestic violence; so [...]
