General

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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

Trauma Informed Care

By | April 12th, 2012|General|

Trauma Informed Care provides another perspective when working with individuals in the behavioral health system.  Think of it this way, our life experiences have helped shape each of us into the person we are today, why would it be any different for our patients/residents. When a person experiences trauma it can have any number of effects [...]

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Flag Drops for Dispensary Applications

By | April 11th, 2012|General|

The tumblers have clicked, and the race to apply for a dispensary is on.  Our revised rules for regulating Medical Marijuana were filed and became official today- and we’ll be accepting applications for Medical Marijuana Dispensary Registration Certificates from May 14 through May 25. The unofficial rules incorporate the changes that were required by a [...]

Schoolyards Opening Up

By | April 11th, 2012|General|

One of the things I’ve always been jazzed about is coming up with simple and easy policy interventions to drive public health change.  The Governor signed a bill that’s a good example.  SB1059 addresses liability concerns of schools when opening outdoor facilities to the public outside of the school day. This is a critical first [...]

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Obesity & Autism Walking Hand in Hand?

By | April 9th, 2012|General|

Another article came out this week in the journal Pediatrics that points toward the importance of preconception health including maintaining a healthy weight before and during pregnancy.  The authors explored the relationship between metabolic disorders like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity and outcomes such as autism and other developmental delays.  They found an association between metabolic [...]

Integrating Public Health & Primary Care

By | April 4th, 2012|General|

The Institute of Medicine just released a consensus report called "Primary Care and Public Health: Promoting Integration to Improve Population Health" that identified several principles that public health and primary care could work toward further integration- including the goals of population health improvement, aligned leadership, sustainability, community engagement, and the collaborative use of data and analysis.  Check it out and send the [...]

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National Healthy Babies Initiative

By | March 30th, 2012|General|

Every year each of the folks in my job around the country (called the State Health Officers) get together and elect a President of our association (called the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials or ASTHO). Each President picks a public health challenge during his or her term. This year’s ASTHO President is Dr. [...]

Marijuana & Opiates – Recent Study Shows a Link

By | March 29th, 2012|General|

One of the missing ingredients in medical marijuana has been peer-reviewed science- but there is some out there. Studies are happening across the country to see how marijuana impacts and interacts with other drugs.  One small-scale study done by UC San Francisco recently suggests using marijuana with opiates allowed some patients to reduce the amount of opiates needed to [...]

Personnel Reform

By | March 29th, 2012|General|

The Personnel Reform bill made some headway this week in the State Legislature.  It’s a complicated bill and hasn't been through the full process yet- but I know there’s a lot of interest in it around these parts- so I’ll try to distill the current version down a little bit for our agency. Basically, if [...]

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Medical Marijuana Presentation for Physicians

By | March 23rd, 2012|General|

Cara Christ, MD and her team put together a dynamite new PowerPoint presentation on the role of AZ physicians under AZ’s Medical Marijuana Act.  The goal of the presentation is to provide a resource for physicians to be better informed about their role under the Act- and to learn about the checks and balances that we [...]

Step Right Up: Get your Masters in Public Health in Phoenix!

By | March 22nd, 2012|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

When I got into public health 25 years ago, it was kind of a boutique profession. Since then, it’s really gone mainstream- and public health is increasingly being recognized as a key element in driving down our country’s increasing health care costs.  So if you’re a beginning or mid-career professional- get in on the ground [...]

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