Representatives from more than 100 organizations will gather in Phoenix to accelerate the improvement of the state’s food system this Thursday and Friday. The 2017 Arizona Food Summit is part of the ongoing work between the Department of Agriculture and the Arizona Department of Health Services to reduce food insecurity in the state. Connecting Arizonans [...]
Half of the adults in the United States are living with a chronic disease which includes heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in the U.S. The way to reduce this trend may just be a step away. Step It Up! The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote [...]
The CDC just began accepting applications for their annual summer Disease Detective Camp. The Camp is open to motivated students who’ll be high-school juniors or seniors during the 2014-2015 school year. Over the course of five days, campers take on the role of disease detectives. Campers can expect a variety of experiences including re-created outbreaks, [...]
Last year 3,663 refugees resettled in Arizona from 45 different countries (about 1/3 were from Iraq). Refugees have a variety of pressing social, economic and health needs when they arrive. That’s where our ADHS Refugee Health Program comes in. Our Refugee Health Coordinator, Zachary Holden, works with partners to ensure that refugees arrive healthy and maintain good [...]
The CDC just developed a great new Cost Calculator that provides state-level annual medical expenditure and absenteeism estimates for 10 chronic conditions. The tool provides medical expenditures for all of AZ for all payers as well as specific payers Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial insurers. The 10 chronic conditions are arthritis; asthma; cancer; cardiovascular diseases (congestive [...]
This month we wrapped up an 18-month quality improvement pilot project to better integrate environmental health and chronic disease information and referrals into our state home visiting programs. A cross-divisional team made up of folks from Women's & Children's Health, environmental Health, chronic disease, workforce development, and performance management worked together to standardize and pilot [...]
Public health embarked on a smoking revolution over the last few decades, kicking it into high gear to provide programs and policies to help Arizonans change their smoking habits. While by no means has the tobacco battle been won, America is currently undergoing another revolution—a walking revolution. Physical activity is not new territory in public [...]
Many of the health disparities in the US are linked to income. In general… the lower a family’s income the greater the prevalence of health disparities. Health impacts from smoking cigarettes are no exception. Arizonans below the poverty line (100% of FPL) are 40% more likely to smoke than those with more money... and about 34% of [...]
Community paramedicine is a paradigm shift for the use of paramedics in the US. It’s an emerging model in which paramedics function outside their usual emergency response & transport roles- delving into the world of primary care. As the health care world increasingly shifts toward prevention and well care- the system will increasingly demand more folks [...]
The core of our decision-making as an agency relies on evidence. Evidence can be scientific like surveillance or research or it can be administrative or financial. Whichever way you slice it- the key is to get good reliable information so that our teams can make effective decisions as we execute our mission. One of the [...]
