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.

Pharmacy Vaccines

By | May 24th, 2011|Preparedness|

I left out one new law in my post a couple of weeks ago on the New Laws Related to Our Mission.  SB 1298 allows a licensed pharmacist to give a flu vaccine to kids between 6 and 18 years old without a prescription.  The new law also lets pharmacists administer other vaccines in a [...]

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Who Is Ed Jenner?

By | May 17th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

He’s a guy that may have saved more lives than any other single person in history. In the 1790's, he noticed that “milkmaids” seldom came down with smallpox.  He developed a theory that the blisters which “milkmaids” commonly had as part of their work (from a disease called cowpox) somehow protected them from smallpox. In [...]

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Fairy Tale Conveys Anti-smoking Message to Kids

By | May 11th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Guest blog by:  Karen Lewis, M.D., Medical Director of the Immunization Program Office of the Arizona Department of Health Services. Tobacco use is the world's leading single preventable cause of death. Every year, tobacco-related illnesses cause about 500,000 deaths in the United States.  Children start smoking early. Every year, there are about 400,000 new daily [...]

Looking for a Dynamic and Rewarding Career?

By | May 10th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Life expectancy improved by more than 30 years in the US during the 20th Century.  Advances in diagnosis and treatment of disease have played a role, but the real reason we’re living longer today has a lot more to do with public health interventions than advances in health care.  Interventions like vaccines, motor vehicle safety, [...]

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New Laws Related to our Mission

By | April 25th, 2011|Behavioral Health, General, Licensing, Preparedness, Prevention|

The Legislature completed the Regular Session last week.  They've passed numerous bills.  The Governor has signed many of them, but some are still waiting for her consideration and signature.  Below are the new laws that have been signed by the Governor that are related to our mission: HB 2585: Controlled Substances; Marijuana; Monitoring This law requires [...]

National Infant Immunization Week

By | April 23rd, 2011|Preparedness|

Immunizations have been the most effective public health intervention of all time (followed by proper sewage treatment and garbage disposal).  We celebrate our successes and sharpen our focus on doing an even better job executing this important intervention every year during National Infant Immunization Week-  which is next week.  Our overall objective is to encourage [...]

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Easter Chicks & Ducklings

By | April 19th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Guest blog by:  Craig Levy, Program Manager for Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Easter is just around the corner, and a lot of parents will be tempted to purchase cute little chicks or ducklings for their kids. Unfortunately, chicks and ducklings are common carriers of Salmonella bacteria and pose an infection risk to families.  At greater [...]

New Healthcare Associated Infections Toolkit

By | April 15th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Healthcare-associated infections are a critical challenge to public health in Arizona.  Healthcare associated infections are acquired during healthcare treatment and can be devastating and even deadly- importantly, they’re preventable.  At any given time, about 1 in 20 patients have an infection while receiving healthcare treatment in U.S. hospitals, causing up to $33B in excess medical [...]

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