smoke

Wildfire Season Kicks Off

By |2017-02-10T09:49:38-07:00May 23rd, 2014|Licensing, Preparedness|

The first big fire of the season started this week in Oak Creek Canyon- called the Slide fire.  Smoke is usually the first public health impact from wildland fires.  The air quality in Flagstaff and Sedona has been generally OK- but poor at times depending on the winds (smoke levels in Sedona have been high [...]

Start the New Year Off Right: Kick the Habit

By |2017-02-10T09:49:55-07:00January 15th, 2014|Prevention|

50 years ago this week the 1st Surgeon General’s report on the health dangers of smoking was published- and we’re still fighting the battle.  About 43 million Americans still smoke despite decades of warnings. Smoking kills more people every year than car crashes, suicides, murders, illegal and prescription drugs, and alcohol abuse combined (6,800 people [...]

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Leveraging Medicaid to Help Arizonans “Kick the Habit”

By |2017-02-10T09:50:08-07:00September 19th, 2013|Prevention|

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 [...]

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Smoke Free Arizona at 6

By |2017-02-10T09:50:18-07:00July 25th, 2013|Prevention|

Our Smoke Free Arizona program turned 6 last month.  Voters approved the Act back in November of ’06 by a few percentage points.  The Initiative language gave us a super-short turn-around time and we turned the key on the program by May of ’07.  Implementation of the Initiative was smooth from the get-go and compliance with the [...]

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Employee Wellness Standards Locked In

By |2017-02-10T09:50:22-07:00June 11th, 2013|Affordable Care Act, General|

The Fed’s issued their final regulations for worksite wellness programs under the Affordable Care Act this week.  The final rules are designed to incentivize workplaces to develop and execute health promotion programs.  The goal is to improve health and wellness among workers and to limit growth of health care costs moving forward.  The regulations outline [...]

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Fire Season Here Already

By |2012-05-21T08:10:16-07:00May 21st, 2012|Preparedness|

Our Department plays a significant role in the response for major wildland fires… and we’re monitoring the current fires closely to make sure that we cover our bases.  Our initial roles mostly include environmental health functions, especially surrounding health risks from smoke, sanitary conditions and food safety in shelters and ensuring that all of our licensed [...]

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What’s Preconception Health- and Why’s it Important?

By |2012-04-23T11:31:10-07:00November 7th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Being born too soon is the number one killer of infants in Arizona and in the nation.  Death rates from prematurity are declining but babies born too soon (before 37 weeks) often face medical, developmental and social challenges as they get older. More than 8,000 babies in Arizona were born too soon last year.   This week the March [...]

New Electronic Smokefree AZ Reporting Module

By |2010-08-10T08:05:17-07:00August 10th, 2010|General|

Our Smoke Free Arizona and ITS teams polished off their electronic Complaint Reporting System this week.  Our county partners can use the new tool to manage complaints electronically.  The reports can be downloaded in PDF format or Excel.  This is a great example of a solid team effort with participation from both teams including Harmony Duport, [...]

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Schultz Fire Update

By |2017-02-10T09:52:15-07:00June 25th, 2010|Uncategorized|

The “Schultz” fire started last weekend to the north and east of Flagstaff. It’s grown rapidly and is now over 14,000 acres but is about 40% contained.  The actual fire is in a sparsely populated area off of Highway 89.  But- the public health threat from wildland fires are from the smoke- not so much [...]

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