Here you will find topics ranging from current events that affect public health in Arizona to overall information about the Arizona Department of Health Services
This morning St. Mary’s Food Bank picked up 2 ½ tons of canned food to help those in need… courtesy of our Agency food drive. We set a goal of bringing in 4,000 pounds and we made it. When you combine the cans and cash, it equals more than 5,000 pounds of food. Good work to [...]
Our Arizona State Hospital (ASH) and the U of A share a birthday. Both were established by the 13th Territorial Legislature in 1885. The City of Tucson had wanted ASH (it came with a $100K appropriation) but their delegation got to Prescott (the Territorial Capitol) late because the Salt was flooded… and Tucson ended up [...]
In public health, we don’t gather data just for the sake of gathering data. Our goal is use that data to see what kind of issues there are, look for programs that are proven to reduce bad outcomes and help the communities implement them. One key area we watch is Maternal and Child Health because making changes [...]
Last Thursday I announced in a blog post that our team had just returned from a field inspection for a dispensary applicant in Glendale, that there were no major deficiencies, and that we had awarded the dispensary an “Approval to Operate”. Today the Applicant asked for a short delay in the effective date for their [...]
Did you know that 19.6% of people in Arizona live in poverty, and 1 in 5 households are unable to afford to buy food for their families It doesn't help that one of the places people turn to for help, St. Mary's Food Bank, reports that it has 40% less food on the shelves to [...]
For the 5th year in a row, we’re participating in the Undy 5000 fun walk/run on November 17th. This event helps increase awareness of colon cancer and encourages folks to bite the bullet and get screened. The run raises money for the Colon Cancer Alliance and half the profits stay here in Arizona. Half is spent [...]
Those who have been in Arizona for a while may know that Valley Fever is a lung infection caused by a fungus that is common in the soil here. In most cases, people with Valley Fever have very mild symptoms like cough, fatigue and shortness of breath that they may confuse with the common cold. [...]
Our Vital Health Statistics team along with our partners at the UA College of Public Health completed the 1st Annual Report for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Program this week. You’ll find a wide range of information in the report including data about the demographics and kinds and qualifying conditions of our cardholders, geographic distribution and rates [...]
I'm happy to announce that Tracey Sotelo has agreed to serve as the Executive Director of our Arizona Biomedical Research Commission. She comes to us from ADOA where she was a Manager in the Benefit Services Division. She has also served as a legal contracts specialist for Banner Research Institute where she reviewed, drafted, revised and negotiated research contracts for clinical trials and device [...]
Many of you have heard how I’d like to see the USDA’s food stamp program (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) hard-wire better nutrition into the program by beginning to include nutritious food inventory criteria for SNAP vendors. To help make the case, we contracted with the ASU School of Nutrition & [...]
