General

/General

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

Getting a Recommendation for Medical Marijuana

By | October 22nd, 2010|General|

Some of the most important words in the 13-page Arizona Medical Marijuana Act are: “Physician Patient Relationship” and “A Full Assessment of the Qualifying Patient’s Medical History”.   The real gatekeepers that’ll determine which applicants ultimately would qualify for a medical marijuana card are Arizona MDs, DOs, Naturopaths and Homeopaths, as they evaluate their patient's medical [...]

Cannabis Cultivation- Post Prop. 203

By | October 15th, 2010|General|

Where would the inventory come from if Proposition 203 (the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act) passes?  As near as I can tell…  it could come from at least 3 places: enclosed cultivation facilities associated with dispensaries; enclosed cultivation facilities operated by caregivers on behalf of cardholders, if the people they care for live 25 miles from [...]

More support for nutrition in the food stamp program

By | October 7th, 2010|General, Prevention|

NYC is climbing on the SNAP better nutrition train today; it is asking the feds to forbid people from buying sugary drinks with food stamps.  This should sound pretty familiar to my blog readers.  I’ve been banging on this drum for months – we need to add nutritional standards to the criteria for folks who [...]

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Coming Soon: A Marijuana Dispensary Near You?

By | October 6th, 2010|General|

Will a marijuana dispensary pop up in your neighborhood at the old payday loan store?  It depends.  If the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act passes, there could be up to 120 dispensaries (and their indoor cultivation facilities) setting up shop across the state.  Where they actually go will depend on what kind of local zoning restrictions [...]

2010 HEMMY Awards

By | September 30th, 2010|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

Congratulations to Dallas Teat from IT and our vector control team (including Elisabeth Lawaczeck who moved to Colorado) on the 2010 Arizona Public Health Association’s HEMMY (Health Education Media Makers Yearly) Award for Bats at Schools: Prevention of Rabies. The video won in the Grassroots category and focuses on educating children and school staff about [...]

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“Health Tourism”

By | September 15th, 2010|General, Licensing|

I attended the “First Forum of Health and Retirement Tourism” at the beginning of September in Alamos, Sonora.  The meeting was part of a Sonora’s health tourism initiative that’s focused on improving the retirement infrastructure, providing more opportunities for “Baby Boomers” to retire in Sonora.  They also have a goal of building an infrastructure for [...]

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SECC Campaign

By | September 3rd, 2010|General|

The annual State Employee Charitable Campaign starts this month and will run for 6 weeks.  Employees will get some additional information about this year’s campaign shortly, but I wanted to let you know about a special part of the campaign for ADHS this year.  I know that the furloughs and the unemployment situation (for your [...]

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Healthy Schools

By | September 3rd, 2010|General|

I thought I’d do a piece on school environmental health now that school’s back in session.  About 1 million Arizona kids and 100,000 adults spend a big chunk of their day in Arizona’s public, private and charter schools.  Because schools can often be crowded environments, it’s important operate them in a way that maximizes a [...]

Acting Shmackting

By | September 2nd, 2010|Behavioral Health, General, Preparedness|

I’m glad to announce that Rodgers Wilson, MD is our permanent Behavioral Health Medical Director. Dr. Wilson oversees the clinical/prevention and quality management/medical management areas of our behavioral health system.  He has spearheaded Quarterly Health Initiatives that address common physical health needs among individuals with behavioral health illnesses and is currently developing collaborative training programs [...]

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Losing Stuff

By | August 26th, 2010|General|

Please make sure that you tell the ITS Help Desk (602-364-4444 opt 5, email HelpDesk) or HIPAA office (602-542-1020), email HIPAA) right away if you ever lose a computer, PC, laptop, BlackBerry, hard drive, CD, flash drive, copier, printer, server, or anything that could be used to store, transmit, or process data.  Our official Policy ADM022 Reporting an [...]