Preparedness

/Preparedness

Items in the Preparedness category will cover everything from Emergency Medical Services to vaccination programs. This division at ADHS tracks contagious disease, coordinates emergency preparedness activity, licenses EMTs and Paramedics, regulates ambulance companies, authorizes special hospital designations like cardiac care center and Level IV trauma center, issues birth and death certificates, and tracks critical health data through various sources including hospital discharge information.

Dispensary Zoning Case

By | December 13th, 2012|Preparedness|

Last week a Superior Court judge ordered Maricopa County to process the zoning paperwork that has been submitted by the applicant for the Sun City CHAA.  The Maricopa County Attorney asked for a Stay of the decision while he appealed the case to the Court of Appeals.  This morning, the Superior Court judge denied that request [...]

RSV on the Upswing in AZ

By | December 12th, 2012|Preparedness, Prevention|

We're off to an early start with the flu and RSV season this year with more cases reported in November than in previous seasons. Respiratory syncytial virus (or RSV) is a respiratory virus that mainly affects little kids and circulates during the winter. There’s no vaccine for RSV- but for those babies that are at highest [...]

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Clostridium botulinum in Jail

By | December 10th, 2012|Preparedness|

When most of us think botulism, we remember the old tales about “dented” cans and home canning, but we only get about one case every few years from bad home canning practices.  Last week, 8 inmates from a prison in Pinal County got botulism- our biggest outbreak since 2006.  Botulism is a severe illness caused by a toxin [...]

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Dispensary Court Ruling

By | December 4th, 2012|Preparedness|

   A Superior Court judge ruled today in the dispensary case concerning the applicant in the Sun City CHAA.  The judge ordered the county to begin processing the required zoning paperwork.  This was the only application for this area,  so the next step for the applicant is to submit to us a completed application including  the zoning [...]

Acute Cardiac Care & Arizona’s EMS System – Setting the National Standard

By | December 4th, 2012|Preparedness|

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in Arizona (7,600/year).  Because Arizona’s EMS agencies (including more and more 911 centers) have implemented key interventions, the survival rate from Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Arizona has increased by 300% since 2004.  Arizona’s pre-hospital and EMS system has become a model that has been adopted across [...]

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AZ’s Trauma System: Moving to the Next Level

By | December 3rd, 2012|Preparedness|

Injuries are the leading cause of death for Arizonans from age 1 to 44.  That means for the majority of the young and the middle-aged injury is more lethal than cancer, heart disease, hypertension and influenza combined.  The effectiveness of a State’s pre-hospital and Trauma System makes the difference when it comes to saving lives [...]

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AZ’s Pre-Hospital (EMS) – Trauma System Continuum

By | November 30th, 2012|Preparedness, Prevention|

The effectiveness of a State’s EMS and Pre-Hospital & Trauma System makes the difference when it comes to saving lives (and quality of life) from injuries.  Injuries are the leading cause of death for Arizonans from age 1 to 44- so you can see how important it is for states to have an effective EMS & [...]

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The Silent Breakthrough

By | November 26th, 2012|Preparedness|

Until last week, influenza vaccine makers were limited to producing flu vaccines using a 40-year-old technology that depends on using fertilized chicken eggs to grow virus strains- meaning that it takes several months to make an influenza vaccine.  Makers needed to organize sterile egg supplies and incubate the virus in them before the vaccine could [...]

Glendale Dispensary Opening Postponed

By | November 19th, 2012|General, Preparedness|

Last Thursday I announced in a blog post that our team had just returned from a field inspection for a dispensary applicant in Glendale, that there were no major deficiencies, and that we had awarded the dispensary an “Approval to Operate”.   Today the Applicant asked for a short delay in the effective date for their [...]

First Dispensary

By | November 15th, 2012|Preparedness|

Our team just returned from a field inspection for a dispensary applicant in Glendale.  There were no major deficiencies, and we awarded the dispensary an “approval to operate” late this afternoon.  This is the first dispensary approval to operate we’ve issued in the State.  By law, we’re not allowed to publicly disclose the address.  The [...]