A couple of years ago (when the financial crisis was just starting), we brainstormed about how we could bring down the utility bills in our State Laboratory. The Lab has always been electricity intensive, partly because of the workplace safety requirements etc. (e.g. the “hoods”) require more air exchange than a normal building. That means constantly [...]
The Pew Children’s Dental Campaign released the State of Children’s Dental Health Report that grades each state’s policy responses to the crisis in dental health among America’s children. Arizona raised its grade to a “B” for 2011. We made improvements in the share of high-risk schools that participate in the school-based sealant program. This can [...]
Jeanette Shea is retiring at the end of July. She’s been with the Department for more than 20 years serving as a Program Manager, Social Work Consultant, Section Chief then Office Chief for Women’s and Children’s Health and finally as the Assistant Director for Public Health Prevention for the last few years. She’s has been [...]
We made more progress filling our key positions in behavioral health this week. We're delighted that Ashraf Lasee, MPH, Dr.PH, M.B.B.S has agreed to serve as our new Division Chief for Quality Management. Ashraf has a keen respect for data and understands the importance of solid data collection and analysis in driving quality improvement. She recognizes the importantance of data integrity, understands its importance in program performance [...]
Ann Froio has been the Department’s “Fix-it” specialist for the last several years. Most recently, Ann has served as Interim CEO for the Arizona State Hospital while the Department conducted a national search for a new CEO. For the year prior to that, Ann served as the Interim Director at the Arizona Community Protection and Treatment [...]
Bill McCarroll was asked to participate and present in an interagency forum regarding the quality assurance issues linked to domestic violence treatment and the courts. This group was designed to bring together key stakeholders invested in studying the behavioral health licensing and treatment nuances in addressing the needs of persons involved in domestic violence. Important conversations [...]
This has been a super hot week- and we’ve even had a couple of extreme heat warnings in the southern deserts with more to come this holiday weekend (it might get to 120o Saturday). Homeless folks have the highest risk for heat-related illness because they have limited access to cool spaces and finding water to drink [...]
Our Division of Licensing Services monitors a wide range of facilities including hospitals, assisted living and skilled nursing centers, behavioral health facilities, child care facilities, and group homes for folks with developmental disabilities. Our teams of surveyors conduct inspections, on-site surveys, and complaint investigations to make sure all of our licensed facilities promote quality care [...]
Our cross-cutting team from Childcare Licensure and IT have been overhauling the Childcare Licensing Website over the last few weeks- and the new site went live this week. We’re very excited about the changes. After the “face lift” it got 18 months ago, I didn’t know what to expect next – which is just as [...]
The results are in, and 14 of Arizona’s 15 county local health departments will be recognized through the Project Public health Ready recognition program. Coconino County led the way and was the first AZ local health department to receive recognition. When we saw how well the program worked in Coconino County, the counties and our [...]
