The tragedy in Connecticut has reminded us all about how important mental health and mental health treatment is to ensure that we have a society that functions in a way that we’d all like. To be truly effective, a behavioral and mental health system needs to make sure parents, teachers, doctors and emergency department staff, [...]
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices released issued new recommendations to encourage pregnant women to get the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine (Tdap) during their pregnancy. Since most kids get whooping cough from a close family member, vaccinating parents (and teens) is one of the best ways to prevent infants, especially those who are too young [...]
Back in 2009, AZ had the 9th highest rate of suicide in the U.S. In that year 1,060 Arizonans took their own lives- so it’s easy to see why suicide prevention is an agency priority and is featured in our Strategic Map as a Winnable Battle. Since we’re responsible for the state’s behavioral health system- [...]
The Arizona Biomedical Research Commission was created several years ago as a mechanism to fund biomedical research in Arizona. Core projects include research that digs into the causes, the epidemiology and diagnosis, the formulation of cures, the medically accepted treatment or the prevention of diseases, including new drug discovery and development. Funding comes from tobacco [...]
At the core- vaccines are really about community protection. Our public health system depends on a solid network of providers that are available to vaccinate kids for all of the nasty infectious diseases that have plagued humanity for millennium. It’s not just access to care and a solid network of providers that vaccinate that are [...]
Last week a Superior Court judge ordered Maricopa County to process the zoning paperwork that has been submitted by the applicant for the Sun City CHAA. The Maricopa County Attorney asked for a Stay of the decision while he appealed the case to the Court of Appeals. This morning, the Superior Court judge denied that request [...]
The Patients and Hospital Rehab Departments at the Hospital are working together with the Phoenix Rescue Mission (homeless shelter) to create Blessing Bags. Blessing Bags are large gallon sized Ziploc bags filled with basic necessities which will be handed out by the Phoenix Rescue Mission to the homeless. But they need some donations to get [...]
We're off to an early start with the flu and RSV season this year with more cases reported in November than in previous seasons. Respiratory syncytial virus (or RSV) is a respiratory virus that mainly affects little kids and circulates during the winter. There’s no vaccine for RSV- but for those babies that are at highest [...]
Some of you might remember a protest about a year ago in front of our 150 Building. About 100 folks were carrying placards asking us to make it easier to have a home-birth in AZ. They were mostly young families and some licensed midwives- and they were urging us to change our licensing rules for midwives. That day [...]
When most of us think botulism, we remember the old tales about “dented” cans and home canning, but we only get about one case every few years from bad home canning practices. Last week, 8 inmates from a prison in Pinal County got botulism- our biggest outbreak since 2006. Botulism is a severe illness caused by a toxin [...]
