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.

E. coli Outbreak

By | November 5th, 2010|Preparedness|

We’ve just confirmed 11 cases of E. coli in AZ.  Our cases appear to be part of a multi-state outbreak that’s associated with Gouda cheese sold at Costco.  Maricopa (5 stores), Pima (1 store) and Yavapai counties (1 store) are involved with the investigation and the suspect cheese has been held in back stock until [...]

Annual Statewide Environmental Health Annual Report Published

By | November 3rd, 2010|Preparedness|

I started my career in public health working as a county Sanitarian doing inspections of restaurants, motels and the like in the mid- 1980s.  My area was right around here down toward South Mountain  and I inspected the cafeteria in the basement of the Executive Tower and the cafeteria that used to be on the [...]

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Babies, Babies, Babies

By | October 27th, 2010|Preparedness|

More interesting information from Vital Statistics– this time about babies and births in Arizona.  The number of births each year in AZ has been on a downward trend for the last couple of years, and 2009 was no exception.  There were a lot fewer babies born in 2009 (92,616)   than in 2007 (102,687)- which is [...]

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Heart Disease v. Cancer in AZ

By | October 25th, 2010|Preparedness, Prevention|

As predicted by our 1990 ADHS Vital Statistics Bureau in 1990- cancer is now the number one killer in Arizona – surpassing heart disease.  Does this mean that cancer is getting worse?  Probably not- it really says that because of better management, treatment, and prevention of heart disease- people with heart conditions are living longer.  [...]

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Cimex lectularius & You (aka Bed Bugs & You)

By | October 14th, 2010|Preparedness, Prevention|

Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) haven’t really been a problem in AZ for the last few decades.  Sure, we’ve had reports of bed bug infestations, but they’ve mostly been limited to areas around the Grand Canyon where lots of international travelers come and go toting their sleeping bags.  After all, bed bugs are basically hitch-hikers, so [...]

ADHS Rocks Resuscitation World (Again)

By | October 8th, 2010|Preparedness|

We were part of a landmark journal article in JAMA this week that will most likely change the way CPR is done in the US and maybe worldwide.  Our ADHS EMS team partnered with the UA, municipal fire departments & hospitals across the state to accurately track bystander CPR and survival rates from cardiac arrest and look [...]

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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New TB Diagnostic Test on Horizon?

By | September 29th, 2010|Preparedness, Prevention|

One of the major challenges for global control of tuberculosis is that the current diagnostic tests are very slow and can require significant laboratory infrastructure.  The tests are particularly difficult to manage in developing countries and are more complicated for folks with HIV.  It’s also difficult to test for drug sensitivity.   The challenge is that [...]

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Another New AZ Health Status & Vital Statistics Report

By | September 28th, 2010|Preparedness|

We published one of our most popular annual documents this month, our 500-page Arizona Health Status and Vital Statistics Annual Report.  It provides refined health statistics on pregnancies, births, reportable diseases, deaths, inpatient hospitalizations, emergency room visits, marriages, divorces and population of the State. The site got more than 2,000,000 hits last year!  The report provides [...]

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Another New AZ Health Status & Vital Statistics Report

By | September 28th, 2010|Preparedness|

We published one of our most popular annual documents this month, our 500-page Arizona Health Status and Vital Statistics Annual Report.  It provides refined health statistics on pregnancies, births, reportable diseases, deaths, inpatient hospitalizations, emergency room visits, marriages, divorces and population of the State. The site got more than 2,000,000 hits last year!  The report provides [...]

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