Preparedness – Page 74 – AZ Dept. of Health Services News

Items in the Preparedness category will cover everything from Emergency Medical Services to vaccination programs. This division at ADHS tracks contagious disease, coordinates emergency preparedness activity, licenses EMTs and Paramedics, regulates ambulance companies, authorizes special hospital designations like cardiac care center and Level IV trauma center, issues birth and death certificates, and tracks critical health data through various sources including hospital discharge information.

Bringing Primary Care to Rural AZ

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:01-07:00November 5th, 2013|Preparedness|

Getting enough primary care providers into rural areas is a struggle everywhere- and AZ is no exception. Each state needs to have a coordinated and creative strategy to the get these critical access to care resources to the right places. We have a few strategies. One is the J1 Visa Program. Each year, we provide (through the [...]

Disease Follows Conflict

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:01-07:00November 1st, 2013|Preparedness, Prevention|

Throughout human history, war and political unrest have been associated with the spread of disease, often called the “third army”. During the Napoleonic wars, 8 times more people in the British army died from disease than from battle wounds. In our Civil War, 66% of the 660,000 deaths among soldiers were caused by pneumonia, typhoid, [...]

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Trauma System Part 3

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:03-07:00October 30th, 2013|Preparedness|

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the basics of evaluating a trauma system and last week I posted about over & under triage. This week is about a tool we use to measure whether we’re striking the right balance- the “Z Statistic”. Back in 1990, there was a famous study published (Major Trauma [...]

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Another Reason to Get a Flu Shot

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:03-07:00October 30th, 2013|Preparedness|

Investigators of a new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association discovered another reason that some people may benefit from getting the flu shot. The study found that getting an annual flu vaccine puts the person at lower risk of having a heart attack, stroke, heart failure, or death [...]

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Ambulance Service Enhanced Surveillance

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:03-07:00October 29th, 2013|Preparedness|

This past summer I blogged about Rural Metro failing to meet a bond payment and having some issues with an ambulance service contract in California. They subsequently filed for bankruptcy and are in the process of negotiating with their creditors. This is important- because they’re a big provider of 9-1-1 and hospital to hospital [...]

ADHS Partners with Students for Research

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:04-07:00October 21st, 2013|Preparedness|

Our public health mission is closely linked to the public health mission of many groups, including those at the community, county and university levels. That’s why I frequently attend meetings watching for chances to work together. I also try to connect public health students with people in our shop doing cutting edge work. Working together [...]

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Evaluating a Trauma System

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:06-07:00October 3rd, 2013|Preparedness|

How do we evaluate Arizona’s trauma system, you ask? Good question. Over the next few weeks I’ll blog about “Trauma System Evaluation 101” as well as some of the evaluation tools we use to assess Arizona’s trauma system. The goal of any trauma system is to get the right patient to the right place in [...]

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50 Years of Newborn Screening

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:07-07:00September 29th, 2013|General, Newborn Screening, Preparedness|

The first newborn screening test was developed in 1963 by Dr. Robert Guthrie to test for phenylketonuria, commonly known as PKU. Since then, scientists have developed more tests to screen newborns for a variety of severe conditions. This year, the nation celebrates 50 Years of Newborn Screening. The State of Arizona currently screens for 29 [...]

Rural Metro Bankruptcy

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:10-07:00September 9th, 2013|Preparedness|

A couple of months ago the Rural/Metro Corporation filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Last month I sent them a detailed letter asking for a host of financial and operational information about the company in order to determine whether the company still meets our statutory mandate (ARS 36-2201) and rules requirement (AAC R9-25-912(A)) [...]

Filariasis

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:50:10-07:00September 5th, 2013|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

I thought I’d do a series on some interesting tropical diseases over the next few weeks. Let’s start with a disease called filariasis- which can cause something called elephantiasis. You’ve probably heard of a disease in dogs called heartworm. It’s caused by tiny thread-like worms called microfilariae. Like many diseases, there’s a similar disease that [...]

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