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.

State Lab Energy Efficiency

By | July 6th, 2011|General, Preparedness|

A couple of years ago (when the financial crisis was just starting), we brainstormed about how we could bring down the utility bills in our State Laboratory.  The Lab has always been electricity intensive, partly because of the workplace safety requirements etc. (e.g. the “hoods”) require more air exchange than a normal building.  That means constantly [...]

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Extreme Heat Water Drive

By | June 30th, 2011|Behavioral Health, General, Licensing, Preparedness, Prevention|

This has been a super hot week- and we’ve even had a couple of extreme heat warnings in the southern deserts with more to come this holiday weekend (it might get to 120o Saturday).  Homeless folks have the highest risk for heat-related illness because they have limited access to cool spaces and finding water to drink [...]

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AZ is Public Health Ready

By | June 28th, 2011|Preparedness|

The results are in, and 14 of Arizona’s 15 county local health departments will be recognized through the Project Public health Ready recognition program.  Coconino County led the way and was the first AZ local health department to receive recognition.  When we saw how well the program worked in Coconino County, the counties and our [...]

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(Fires)3

By | June 24th, 2011|Behavioral Health, Licensing, Preparedness, Prevention|

We've been operating on several fronts all week for the Monument Fire. Licensing made sure that facilities in the area had executable evacuation plans and knew who to contact if they needed to evacuate.  They also made sure that the facilities that remained open had enough staff.  Fifteen facilities relocated patients and residents this week.  Most are ready to go back, and our licensing team has 8 reopening inspections [...]

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Monument & Wallow Wildfire Responses

By | June 17th, 2011|Licensing, Preparedness|

The center of gravity for the public health responses to the fires shifted South this week toward the new Monument fire. Early this week folks were allowed to go back to Springerville and Eagar, which meant that it was show-time for Licensing again.  We sent a team of surveyors to re-open the licensed facilities that were evacuated last week.  [...]

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Vital Records Self-sufficiency

By | June 12th, 2011|Preparedness|

One of the budget bills that passed and was signed last legislative session (Laws 2011, Chapter 31, § 7) allows our Office of Vital Records to set new fees for copies of registered certificates, certified copies, amendments, etc. Our Office of Vital Records will use the new fees to “self-fund” the program, meaning we’ll no longer receive State General [...]

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Wildfire Update

By | June 10th, 2011|General, Preparedness|

I’m sure you know that a few wildfires are still burning in AZ, including the massive Wallow fire. The Governor signed a Declaration of Emergency on Monday this week, releasing some state funds to help with the response efforts and opening the State Emergency Operations Center, which is coordinating and directing the state emergency response activities.  You [...]

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Top 10 Public Health Accomplishments 2000 – 2010

By | June 6th, 2011|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

The major public health achievements of the first 10 years of the 21st century included improvements in vaccine preventable and infectious diseases, reductions in deaths from certain chronic diseases, declines in deaths and injuries from motor vehicle crashes, and more, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 10 domestic [...]

Wallow Wildfire

By | June 3rd, 2011|Preparedness|

The Wallow Fire is burning a few miles SW of Alpine.  It was still pretty small yesterday (about 6,000 acres) but exploded overnight to more than 100,000 acres today.  The fire spread to the northeast toward Alpine today and the  incident management team issued an evacuation order for Alpine a few minutes ago, requiring folks to leave [...]

Limit the Sun, Not the Fun

By | May 27th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Today is Don't Fry Day - a day established by the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention to remind people of the importance of sunscreen.  In Arizona, we need more than a day - it is more of a season and now that school’s just about out (or is), kids have more time on their [...]

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