Preparedness

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.

Our Unwelcome Winter Visitor Returns

By |2017-02-10T09:51:24-07:00December 16th, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Just in time for the holidays, we’re got our first lab confirmed case of influenza – actually two cases.  Influenza has probably been in the state for a while now, but we don’t officially start counting the cases until there is a case confirmed at our lab.  The vaccine was approved this summer and fights 3 [...]

Acing the Readiness Test

By |2011-12-12T08:20:34-07:00December 12th, 2011|Preparedness|

Disease detection and swift and effective public health interventions are essential to saving lives in a public health emergency.  According to a new report from the CDC on Public Health Preparedness, Arizona's public health system is ready and well-prepared. The CDC report outlines the Department’s ability to detect and respond to a wide range of public [...]

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A Virus is Born

By |2017-02-10T09:51:25-07:00December 5th, 2011|General, Preparedness|

The CDC confirmed the birth of a new influenza virus in this week’s MMWR Weekly Report.  The newborn is named “Swine-origin Triple Reassortant Influenza A (H3N2) (S-OtrH3N2)”.  The hybrid virus was found in a handful of school-age kids in Iowa recently- and luckily the kids recovered and none were hospitalized.  Nobody outside the initial cluster has been infected [...]

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AZ Vigilant Guard Update- Be Prepared to Stay, Be Prepared to Go.

By |2017-02-10T09:51:30-07:00October 21st, 2011|Preparedness|

As you’ve probably heard over the past couple weeks, we are preparing for our big exercise on Nov. 4.  The exercise scenario will prompt public health departments to make decisions about evacuation and sheltering in place.  There are lots of factors that come into play when making these decisions.  In some situations it may be [...]

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Arizona Vigilant Guard Exercise Update

By |2017-02-10T09:51:31-07:00October 13th, 2011|Preparedness|

In less than a month (Nov. 4) thousands of people from a variety of response agencies will be testing their plans and coordinating response efforts for the Vigilant Guard exercise- which will allow us to practice what we would do during a disaster.  One of our main tasks will be medical surge management.  Medical surge [...]

Our Biggest Exercise Ever

By |2017-02-10T09:51:32-07:00October 3rd, 2011|Preparedness|

We’re partnering with the AZ Division of Emergency Management to conduct the biggest preparedness exercise ever to be held in Arizona.  It’s called the 2011 Arizona ”Vigilant Guard” Exercise.  It’ll involve around 5,000 folks from various backgrounds including emergency management, public health, health care, law enforcement, fire, military, and the private sector.  The exercise will be [...]

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New Certification for Kids Emergency Care

By |2017-02-10T09:51:33-07:00September 27th, 2011|General, Preparedness|

A trip to the emergency room with a sick or injured child is one of a parent’s worst nightmares, but it’s not uncommon.  Last year in Arizona there were just over 400,000 emergency department visits by children ages 0–14.  Not all hospital emergency rooms are equally equipped to provide care specific to children.   Arizona is [...]

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AZ’s New Pandemic Readiness Plan

By |2011-09-16T08:19:00-07:00September 16th, 2011|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

Remember our responses to the 2009-2010 H1N1 Pandemic?  One of the reasons why Arizona’s public health responses were so effective was that we had a well researched and tested pandemic readiness plan.  But... public health readiness isn’t a static process, and once the pandemic was finished we set out to revise our plan with lessons learned.  Over [...]

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Contagion

By |2017-02-10T09:51:35-07:00September 9th, 2011|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

In all my years in public health this is the first crack I’ve taken at being a movie critic- so give me a little slack on this one.  I checked out the new movie called Contagion- and really liked it. I won’t give up too much information and spoil the film, but it’s basically a fictional [...]

Holiday weekends call for extra care when driving

By |2011-09-02T08:52:35-07:00September 2nd, 2011|Preparedness, Prevention|

Over the last decade the Labor Day weekend has become one of the most dangerous weekends for car crashes (along with 4th of July and Thanksgiving weekends)…  so this weekend is a great time to think road safety.   Arizona has decreased the death rate from car, truck and motorcycle crashes by almost 50% in the last 5 years- [...]

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