Prevention

Topics here will include issues that fall into the Prevention Division of the agency, which include – as the name implies – programs that help prevent disease in our state. You will find information about chronic diseases (cancer, heart health, breathing disorders) as well as tobacco use prevention. This area also includes education about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women, Infant and Children programs; both USDA programs that help provide nutrition to lower income residents.

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 [...]

Medicare Moves Upstream

By |2017-02-10T09:51:24-07:00December 13th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Keeping off the pounds is tough at any age. Now seniors are getting a helping hand from Medicare.  Last month Medicare announced that it’s adding coverage for nutritional and behavioral counseling for those who are obese as measured by body mass index or BMI.  BMI is a tool which measures weight status for adults- and [...]

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Leveraging Community Partners for Change

By |2011-12-09T08:07:33-07:00December 9th, 2011|Prevention|

A few months ago our tobacco & chronic disease prevention team was awarded a CDC grant to increase coordination and collaboration on evidence-based interventions addressing the leading causes of chronic diseases in Arizona (heart disease, cancer, pulmonary disease, stroke, diabetes, and arthritis).  The Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion grant will look for ways we [...]

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Forging a New Trauma Tool

By |2011-12-07T08:12:41-07:00December 7th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Kudos to our EMS and Trauma System team for forging some new tools to improve trauma care in AZ.  Our Data and Quality Assurance team  developed an innovative benchmarking tool that’s shared with each of AZ’s trauma centers.  The tool shows each facility their injury specific survival rates and compares those rates to the (blinded) other [...]

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The Health Care/Public Health Continuum

By |2011-11-29T09:08:31-07:00November 29th, 2011|General, Prevention|

In the world of health care- the clinician works with patients individually.  They examine various indicators of health for their patient including direct observations and laboratory or other diagnostic tests and implement interventions to help their patient improve their health.  Providers also encourage their patients to live healthy lifestyles and take safety precautions- and help [...]

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To Sample or Not to Sample…

By |2017-02-10T09:51:26-07:00November 22nd, 2011|Prevention|

…  is often the question when it comes to common indoor air quality questions or in response to a communicable disease outbreak (or diagnoses) in the workplace.  The answer is not to sample (almost without exception).  A good case study came up this week when a library and high school were closed after some environmental [...]

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Who is John Doll?

By |2017-02-10T09:51:26-07:00November 22nd, 2011|General, Prevention|

Almost 40 years ago, Dr. John M. Doll came to work at ADHS and left quite a legacy.  His philosophy about researching and publishing data that can be used to make a difference lives on... even though he passed away.  Every year, epidemiologists in Public Health Prevention submit the papers they have published to an internal [...]

Outcomes- Public Health’s Lighthouse

By |2011-11-18T15:49:15-07:00November 18th, 2011|Behavioral Health, Prevention|

One of our primary goals over the last couple of years has been to shift the focus of our performance measures toward actual outcomes.  In other words, we don’t want to measure our success on simple activities like whether we did an intervention, placed an ad, or whether someone’s paperwork is right- but on whether [...]

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Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

By |2011-11-15T08:22:05-07:00November 15th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most serious tickborne disease in the US. AZ has recorded 38 cases so far this year compared to 17 in all of 2010. Most of the cases are in the eastern part of the state.  The disease’s symptoms include a nasty “spotted” rash that usually starts 2-5 days after a fever starts.  Early [...]

Saving Kid’s Lives

By |2011-11-10T12:29:49-07:00November 10th, 2011|Prevention|

The death of a child is a tragedy not only for their family, but also for our communities- and finding ways to save kids' lives is a sentinel public health goal.  But- as is always the case- finding solutions and implementing effective public health interventions requires solid data collection and analysis.  That’s where the annual [...]

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