Back in 2008 we set the ambitious goal of becoming a “Public Health Ready” state- and we’ve worked hard over the last 3 years or so to accomplish our goal. We made it last month- and Arizona became one of only a couple of states to have all county health departments recognized by Project Public Health Ready (PPHR). The program is basically a competency-based training and recognition program that assists local health departments to respond to emergencies… by building preparedness capacity and capability through a continuous quality improvement model.
The process has helped us to expand the scope of emergency planning and the functional role of our county health departments. Our state public health system is now better equipped to handle a wider range of emergency situations than they were before recognition. Congrats!
