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

Fighting Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs)

By | March 31st, 2010|General, Prevention|

Some of the best infection control experts are laying out the plan on how to fight Healthcare-Associated Infections in the next decade.  The International Conference on HAIs just wrapped up in Atlanta – it marked the first time that four leading scientific organizations committed to infection prevention are working together to further a scientific and [...]

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ADHS Budget Summary

By | March 29th, 2010|General|

I don’t have to tell you that we’ve faced unprecedented challenges over the last couple of years.  State revenues have declined for nearly 3 years now, and we’ve dramatically reduced our spending and staffing levels in an effort to bring spending in line with state revenues.  Excluding the money that goes toward the matching funds [...]

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Sunset Hearing

By | March 25th, 2010|General|

We had our agency Sunset Hearing last Wednesday in the Senate.  Every 10 years our agency comes up for a redetermination to see if the mission of the department is still necessary etc.  If so, then ADHS is “reauthorized”- hopefully for another 10 years.  The bill (HB 2029) passed out of the House several weeks [...]

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Furlough & Pay News

By | March 24th, 2010|General|

Performance Pay Reduction The state budget that was recently signed included an indefinite (probably permanent) suspension of performance pay (2.75%) beginning May 29.  The effective date of the  bill  (HB2003) is June 15- so that's the day that the reduction will be actually implemented.  But since this is in the middle of a pay period, we won't begin to actually [...]

Furlough & Pay News

By | March 24th, 2010|General|

Performance Pay Reduction The state budget that was recently signed included an indefinite (probably permanent) suspension of performance pay (2.75%) beginning May 29.  The effective date of the  bill  (HB2003) is June 15- so that's the day that the reduction will be actually implemented.  But since this is in the middle of a pay period, we won't begin to actually [...]

Budget Signed

By | March 19th, 2010|General|

Thursday afternoon the Governor signed the budget bills that the Legislature passed that prescribed budgets for the remaining part of FY 2010 and FY 2011.  The deal is complicated and contains lots of details.  Most of the provisions for our agency pertain to reductions in services that will begin next fiscal year (which starts July 1)- including orders to [...]

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SNAP Reform

By | March 12th, 2010|General, Prevention|

I met with the staff of most of the members of Arizona’s congressional delegation Wednesday in Washington DC at an event called Hill Day sponsored by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation.  I used the opportunity to talk to them about nutritional policy issues like boosting the nutritional strength of the foods that are served under the free and reduced lunch [...]

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Healthier US Schools Challenge Program

By | March 10th, 2010|General, Prevention|

  The federal Healthier US Schools Challenge Program establishes rigorous standards for schools’ food quality, participation in meal programs, physical activity, and nutrition education – key components that make for healthy and active kids – and provides recognition for schools that meet these standards. In the next school year, the USDA’s goal is to double [...]

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School Nutrition Overhaul

By | March 8th, 2010|General, Prevention|

The USDA’s Child Nutrition Act is up for re-authorization this year.  The program provides food to more than 31M school children through the National School Lunch Program as well as 11M that qualify for the School Breakfast Program. Many children get ½ of their daily calories at schools- making this program a great leverage point [...]

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Arizona Serves

By | March 5th, 2010|General|

The Governor established a 20-member ArizonaSERVES Task Force www.arizonaserves.gov by Executive Order on Tuesday to help connect faith-based and non-profit organizations with opportunities to assist folks in Arizona who’ve been impacted by economic hardship.  The goal of the Task Force is to better coordinate volunteer efforts statewide, and find new strategies to promote outreach and [...]

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