The scorching heat is right around the corner this weekend with heat warnings for nearly all of Arizona (Coconino, Yavapai, Graham, Pima, Cochise, Greenlee, Santa Cruz, Pinal, La Paz, Maricopa, Yuma, and Mohave Counties). Temperatures may reach 108 to 115 °F. High outdoor temperatures aren’t just an inconvenience; they’re dangerous. Year after year, nearly 2,000 [...]
This month has been a doozy for our Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma System team. This week we finished the 2nd of 2 high-profile and important decisions. A couple of weeks ago I made a decision to let Yuma City take over part of the ambulance response in that town. I thought the city [...]
When I was a kid growing up in Tucson- it seemed like we lived at the dentist- and getting cavities filled was routine. It’s way better these days because of a host of public health and dental product interventions… but 75% of Arizona kids still have tooth decay by the time they’re in 3rd grade. Around 1900 [...]
Last month I told you about a rare cluster of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) along the US-Mexico border near Yuma, AZ. Since then, we’ve identified 8 more cases for a total of 24 (7 in AZ, 17 in Sonora). GBS is a rare condition that results in paralysis of the legs, but can sometimes affect the arms and [...]
A couple of folks from the CDC have been in Arizona this week to help us (and Sonora) to investigate an unusual number of cases (8 in Arizona and 8 in Sonora) of Guillain Barre syndrome . The Arizona cases are in the Yuma area. It’s a rare condition that rarely (but occasionally) happens several days after [...]
