I’ve talked a lot recently about how where you live impacts your health. ADOT and ADHS teamed up to produce the Active School Neighborhood Checklist. This handy tool helps bring together teams (which might include public works, parents, teachers and health professionals) to assess routes to school and decide what major challenges exist for the students who wish to walk or bike.  These teams provide a really great opportunity for bringing health into the conversation. 

Research is really producing many new tools to assess the built environment and how that impacts health. An easy tool to use is WalkScore, where you simply input an address and get a score output on a scale of 0-100, with 100 being “Walker’s Paradise.” In fact, check out what ASU is doing to examine the relationship between Walk Score and urban housing.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your family. Stay Cool, Stay Hydrated, Stay Informed is the mantra – whenever you can, avoid the heat of the day. Go into an air conditioned place and cool off if you have to be outside. Drink lots of water – if you’re indoors all day, you should be drinking about 2 liters of water. When you’re outside, try to drink 1-2 liters every hour… and stay informed – a good place to do that is our extreme heat website. 

Our Extreme Weather and Public Health program focuses on heat related illnesses by enhancing surveillance and strengthening communication during Extreme Heat Advisory Days.  We’ve also developed innovative toolkits targeting identified vulnerable populations.  You can learn how to Protect yourself from heat with some resources on our website including our Heat Brochure and our School, Older Adult, and Outdoor Worker toolkits.  Also, here’s our Heat Emergency Response Plan.

Hygiene tips include not swimming when you (or your kids) have diarrhea, reminding your kids not to swallow pool water, and practicing good hygiene (shower before swimming and wash your hands after changing diapers).  And remember- little kids should have a swim diaper…  and always change diapers in the bathroom or diaper-changing areas (not poolside).  You can visit our Waterborne Disease site and a new CDC report about fecal contamination in pools to learn more. 

This year we’ll be holding a healthy swimming video contest to build awareness of safe swimming.  Kids can create a 2-minute healthy swimming video to help educate people about safe swimming including sun safety, staying hydrated while swimming, and preventing the spread of germs at pools, lakes, and water parks. The deadline for submission is June 16^th and the website has the complete details and contest rules. The winning video will be used in a statewide water safety campaign. Last year’s winning video is up on YouTube.

Heat is one of the most dangerous weather situations in public health – actually it’s the #1 weather-related killer.  Last year 152 Arizonans died from heat exposure….  with 80% happening in June, July and August.  The largest age group for heat-related deaths are people over 55 (75% are men).  We also had about 2,500 emergency department visits and 548 hospital admissions from heat illness last year.  You can see why we work hard to educate people about the danger of heat and hold a water drive every year via social media.  

We’re also launching our annual water drive this month.  Last year, team ADHS brought in more than 60,000 bottles of water that went to outreach groups and shelters for those who need help escaping from the heat, like the elderly, those who can’t afford to cool their homes and the homeless.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put up $1 billion to entice better care and lower costs in healthcare.  CMS will award money to projects that specifically improve comprehensive health and wellness; improve care for people with special needs; reduce the cost for patients on AHCCCS and in Medicare; and for providers to change financial and clinical models. 

For example – a program that helps a population fight diabetes or one that helps integrate behavioral health care with primary care might be selected.  Funds are available to non-profits, communities, healthcare providers, provider groups, faith-based organizations – almost every type of company, government or partnership. 

Folks who are interested have to send in a Letter of Intent by June 28^th.  You can find out more on the CMS Frequently Asked Questions page.

Recently the hospital hit ten-month lows in the use of seclusion, restraint and patient falls… all as a result of new efforts that have been put in place to create culture change that engages patients and staff in the overall success of treatment.  The focus on Recovery, Trauma Informed Care using evidenced-based are all coming into full swing and present opportunities to even further improve the lives of patients on the campus.  Anyone interested in applying of for the position should submit an application through the State of AZ Jobs Site and look under the Department of Health in the agency section.

Other community planning resources I’ve written about recently include workshops coordinated by the Urban Land Institute.  The workshops, known as the Community Plan are a free service for public officials at the local level that focus on a holistic approach to land use planning, zoning, transportation, economic development, real estate development and finance. 

Another tool for impacting community and population is something called a “Health Impact Assessment”.  It’s basically a tool for assessing and influencing policy or project decisions to improve health.  A simple example is that if your neighborhood has safe, accessible sidewalks or walking or biking paths, you’ll be more likely to be physically active.  

Health Impact Assessments are used a lot in Europe- and they’re gaining steam here in the U.S.  For example, AZ completed a comprehensive health impact assessment last summer.  We worked with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health on the health impact assessment of the proposed Tempe Modern Streetcar, which will be a 3-mile trolley system connecting the current light rail system to Southern.  

The HIA Team developed comprehensive recommendations that were provided to Tempe for their consideration in planning of the trolley system.  Some of the ideas proposed include: having a bike rental system; adding shade to the walking environment; implementing safe routes to school; identifying sites for additional farmers markets; encouraging supermarkets in underserved areas; encouraging community gardens; installing a buffer between sidewalk and arterial streets to make walking safer; installing pedestrian signals; and implementing a 20 minute neighborhood concept for the neighborhoods within the streetcar corridor- so people are more likely to walk or bike.

We have a couple training opportunities coming up if you want to learn more about health impact assessments.

All women need folic acid in their bodies before they get pregnant to help prevent birth defects.  Plus it acts as a beauty aid to make hair shine, nails grown, and skin glow.  Power Me A2Z is a perfect example of uniting our communities by empowering women to take charge of their health and advancing health equity for current and future generations. Visit the Power Me A2Z website to learn more about this exciting program.