Flu season is here! Parts of the country (mostly in the south) have had more intense flu activity in the last few weeks, and 25 states reported widespread flu activity for the week ending December 28th. Meanwhile, in Arizona we are seeing an increase in the number of lab-confirmed flu cases reported to ADHS- but [...]
The Ambulance Down In The Valley A Poem About Public Health Prevention by Joseph Malins (1895) 'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed, though to walk near its crest was so pleasant; but over its terrible edge there had slipped a duke and full many a peasant. So the people said something would [...]
Arizona is on a great trajectory for success if you go by baby names. The most popular boy’s name in 2013 was Liam which means strong-willed warrior and the most popular girl’s name – Sophia – means wisdom. Liam, a form of the name William, jumped to first place from fourth last year, but it [...]
Home visiting programs are highly effective at coaching new parents to be better parents. Home visiting is particularly effective in building skills needed to be an effective parent as well as providing support for breastfeeding, nutrition, child development, fussy babies, oral health, and access to community resources. Arizona has a long tradition of supporting home visiting. Arizona's coalition of partners [...]
As soon as the health department accreditation movement started in early 2010 we quickly recognized that statewide public health accreditation could substantially help us with our goal of achieving improvements in public health outcomes in AZ. Our first task was to scope out the resources we’d need to achieve statewide accreditation and then tap into some [...]
It’s been almost 50 years since the 1st Surgeon General’s report on the health dangers of smoking and we’re still fighting the battle. About 43 million Americans smoke despite decades of warnings. Science continues to uncover dangerous aspects of tobacco use. A new report highlights the threat to unborn children. The study published in Obstetrics [...]
A couple of years ago I had our folks in the Bureau of EMS and Trauma System write a guidance document on what we believe is appropriate to include in ambulance contracts. We noticed that these contracts were getting very complicated and included a whole lot of stuff that was very expensive… but that didn’t have much to [...]
We received Rural Metro’s bankruptcy documents this week. The Delaware bankruptcy court confirmed the company’s reorganization- including the business plan and capital structure. The plan states that the company will be continuing all material contracts in AZ- which is good. They’ll officially emerge from Chapter 11 once its reorganization plan is declared “effective”… meaning that [...]
Congratulations to Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA) for gaining national recognition for its work- snagging the 2013 National Affiliate of the Year Award from the American Public Health Association. For 85 years, AzPHA has helped shape public health in Arizona working to create smoke-free environments and access to healthcare. In this year alone, the Arizona affiliate [...]
As Cory mentioned in his blog last week, the ADOA recently affirmed our award of the Maricopa County integrated behavioral health services contract to Mercy Maricopa Integrated Care and lifted the Stay on transition activities. The Order from ADOA marked one more step in the process of implementing an integrated care model for folks living with a serious mental illness in Maricopa County. Magellan [...]
