Across the country prescription painkillers take out way more people than heroin and cocaine combined... and the story is the same in Arizona. Last year more than one person died almost every day in our state from prescription opioids... and more people died from painkiller overdoses than car crashes. In January, I blogged about how we've joined the Association [...]
Improving health outcomes at licensed healthcare facilities in Arizona requires 2 main ingredients. Having regulations and encourage continuous quality improvement (which is now complete) and providing our licensed facilities with the information they need to implement practices (in accordance with the regulations) to execute positive change. Now that we’ve finished developing the new regulations, it’s [...]
You’ve read on my blog before about Arizona’s statewide youth coalition Students Taking a New Direction, better known as STAND. The group just wrapped up its 5th annual youth conference to congratulate members on a great year and recognize the best of the organization. This year, Mohave County's Kingman Youth Coalition “Beating Up Teen Tobacco” [...]
Throughout the year, we talk a lot about flu, but there are several other respiratory viruses like parainfluenza, RSV, adenoviruses, and coronaviruses that can also cause respiratory infections. Our State Laboratory has been able to detect most of these viruses through a battery of test methods, but now we have a way to consolidate testing for [...]
The annual plenary session of the Arizona-Mexico Commission wrapped up Friday night. The Ventanilla de Salud (Health Windows) program won the Arizona Mexico Commission’s Paul Fannin award. This is a top recognition for the Commission- with the award going to “… an organization that has demonstrated acts of goodwill and support toward the development of the Arizona-Sonora relationship.” [...]
When a case of tuberculosis (TB) is suspected, it’s important to rapidly identify it to treat the person and prevent the spread of disease in Arizona. Our State Laboratory is critical in the identification of TB and other bacterial pathogens. The faster these diseases can be detected, the faster public health folks can take action. The [...]
The annual plenary session of the Arizona-Mexico Commission wrapped up last night with some important health events. The Ventanilla de Salud (Health Windows) program won the Arizona Mexico Commission’s Paul Fannin award for our public health collaborations last Friday night. This is a top award for the Commission- with the award going to “… an organization that has demonstrated acts of goodwill and support toward the [...]
About 10 years ago Mexico’s healthcare system experienced a radical transformation. With the creation of the “System of Social Protection in Health” Mexico set in motion a process to provide universal access to healthcare for the entire country. Prior to implementing the System of Social Protection in Health, access to care was largely restricted to [...]
Sprinkled throughout state statute, ADHS has several required reports that we issue on a regular basis. These reports are important and help create and maintain a level of transparency and accountability in everything we do. We recently published the annual Smoke Free report, and the Food Analysis Safety Report, and our 2013 Agency Annual Report, highlighting [...]
The regular Oxygen that we breathe is 2 oxygen atoms hooked together to make an oxygen molecule O2. Ozone is an oxygen molecule that has 3 oxygen atoms (O3). That third oxygen atom makes it reactive- especially with mucous membranes and lung tissue- which leads to health problems when people or animals are exposed to too much [...]
