Our Health Systems Development shop just got a new workforce recruitment and retention grant from the National Health Service Corps to improve the number of healthcare providers that practice where we have shortages (technically called underserved areas). The Corps offers medical, dental, and behavioral health providers the opportunity to repay their student loan debts in [...]
With the recent ruling in Maricopa Superior Court, ADHS is analyzing the best way to responsibly begin accepting applications for medical marijuana dispensaries. Last week, the Governor instructed ADHS to proceed with the dispensary portion of the AMMA. One of the stumbling blocks was the pending Compassion First vs. Arizona case, which challenged some [...]
Accessibility, advocacy and jobs are the focus of the grants given by the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council this year. The DDPC found 8 projects that will help the community with creating an accessible transportation system, educate folks about the Legal Options Manual and how to use it, work to train people as Partners in [...]
Families often get split up when there is an emergency– but they shouldn’t have to split up at a shelter. ADHS, along with the Arizona Statewide Independent Living Council and other partners, found a way to reduce that problem. Using CDC grant funds, we purchased special equipment that will let people with functional needs stay [...]
The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (36-2801.01) directs us to accept and review applications to add new debilitating medical conditions that qualify folks to hold patient registration cards. We outlined the requirements and review procedures in the Rules we adopted (R9-17-106)- which say that we’ll accept applications every January and July. We’re planning to accept applications during the last [...]
Last May (after receiving a threatening letter from the Arizona U.S Attorney’s Office) the Governor suspended the dispensary portion of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act with a genuine concern that state employees would be federally prosecuted. Last year, we asked the federal court to provide us with guidance regarding the obvious conflicts between the Arizona [...]
Our Home Baked and Confectionery Goods Program enrolled our 1000th participant this month- providing new opportunities to more than 1000 families to bake food at home and be able to sell it commercially. This week also marks the 6 month anniversary of this innovative new program. We also recently completed the official rules- which will go [...]
Public Health’s 10 Essential Services Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture - what is public health? Public health is everywhere and is a part of the infrastructure that keeps our communities safe and healthy and focuses on the entire populations while other models may focus on the individual. In the 1900s [...]
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 [...]
The father of a person living in one of our licensed behavioral health residential facilities phoned in an after-hours complaint to our behavioral health licensing team on the Friday before Christmas Eve. Little did our team leader Bill McCarroll know when he answered the phone that he would hear graphic details of a brutal pit-bull attack- and he [...]
