Those of you in Public Health Licensing have heard me talk about the difference between compliance and enforcement more than once. They’re 2 different things. Compliance means that a licensed healthcare, residential or childcare facility meets our standards and expectations. Enforcement is an action that we occasionally take in order to get a facility into [...]
As I mentioned in a blog post a few weeks ago, more AZ parents are choosing not to vaccinate their kids- and using “personal exemptions” when they enroll their kids in school. If the trend continues, we could jeopardize our immunization rates enough so that we'd see long gone diseases like measles and mumps return in [...]
We’ve been processing Medical Marijuana Registration Cards for about a year and a half now. One of our primary goals from the start has been to try to build a true medical marijuana program. One of the keys is setting clear expectations for clinical assessment and medical record review by physicians before they sign a medical marijuana [...]
Many of you have heard how I’d like to see the USDA’s food stamp program (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) hard-wire better nutrition into the program by beginning to include nutritious food inventory criteria for SNAP vendors. To help make the case, we contracted with the ASU School of Nutrition & [...]
I just got back from this year’s (30th annual) United States-Mexico Border Governor’s Conference in Albuquerque- called “Energize Our Borders”. It was an opportunity to further strengthen the ties of friendship, security, and economic prosperity among the 10 states that comprise our United States-Mexico border region. The Conference is made up of 7 worktables including Agriculture and [...]
Our chronic disease prevention team and the county health departments, community partners, and Pima Prevention Partnership, officially launched STAND last week. It’s a coalition of local youth groups that have banded together in a common cause against tobacco use. It’s the culmination of a three-year effort to engage more youth in the actual planning and [...]
Lots of risk factors contribute to health disparities… and many of the risk factors are called "social determinants of health." A couple of months ago we (with our community partners), launched the Social Determinants of Health educational series to boost professional development and program planning so Arizona’s public health team can better address health equity [...]
Many of you have heard how I’d like to see the food stamp program (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) hard-wire better nutrition into the program by beginning to include nutritious food inventory criteria for SNAP vendors. To help make the case, we contracted with the ASU School of Nutrition & Health [...]
The First Lady’s Let’s Move! Child Care initiative recognized our Empower program for exceptional work to promote young children’s health and prevent childhood obesity in the early care and education setting last week. We were selected for recognition for carrying out exceptional work to promote and implement the goals of Let’s Move! Child Care, including using [...]
Teen pregnancy is a key public health indicator because of the profound negative health outcomes related to a lack of education and economic opportunity. For example, only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma versus approximately 90% of their peers. The disadvantages caused by a teen pregnancy can last a lifetime- and even spill over to [...]
