Public Health’s 10 Essential Services Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture - what is public health? Public health is everywhere and is a part of the infrastructure that keeps our communities safe and healthy and focuses on the entire populations while other models may focus on the individual. In the 1900s [...]
This week is National Folic Acid Awareness Week and a great time to start taking a multivitamin with 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid every day. So, whether or not you’re planning to have a baby this year, you can start the New Year with healthy habits that will help give a baby a healthy start [...]
The death of any child is a tragedy – for the family and for the community. Almost 20 years ago, an idea was created to systematically review all child deaths in order to find ways to prevent similar deaths going forward. In past years this focus has raised the awareness about child drowning or the [...]
We’re partnering with the AZ Division of Emergency Management to conduct the biggest preparedness exercise ever to be held in Arizona. It’s called the 2011 Arizona ”Vigilant Guard” Exercise. It’ll involve around 5,000 folks from various backgrounds including emergency management, public health, health care, law enforcement, fire, military, and the private sector. The exercise will be [...]
Arizona’s HIV surveillance hit the mark in the latest CDC national Incidence report. Arizona led the nation in testing and treatment completeness and test results. We’re very proud to have published the first ever Arizona specific HIV incidence estimate which is now posted on our website.
I’m proud of a ton of things that we’ve accomplished for the folks of Arizona over the last 2 ½ years together. Two of the things that I’m most proud of has been our collective ability to think clearly about ways that we can achieve better health outcomes in Arizona using creative thinking, enthusiasm and [...]
In the fall of 2009, faced with a 3 billion dollar budget shortfall, the state of Arizona eliminated funding for licensing services from the budget of the Arizona Department of Health Services. We were given the authority to self-fund these services by passing the costs of providing this critical public health service back to the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
