We have two Regional Behavioral Health Authorities working to improve and protect mental health along the border. Cenpatico and Community Partnership of Southern Arizona (CPSA) offer specialized programs to help combat substance abuse and prevent suicide as well as to help those with behavioral health issues. One of the CPSA-sponsored prevention activities near the border includes [...]
A few weeks ago a Superior Court judge decided that a portion of our medical marijuana regulations are unreasonable because they lack a formal appeal process for dispensary registration certificate holders who don’t earn their approval to operate within 1 year. Because of the ruling, we approved renewal requests for all the current dispensaries (open [...]
The Arizona WIC Program is airing outreach ads in border counties, to ensure WIC clients know about the availability of WIC services in their communities. Several local WIC agencies in the border region are undertaking special actions to promote WIC along with making healthy eating and active living the easy choice in their communities. The [...]
A cooperative partnership between Arizona and Sonora highlights the importance of a safe ride home for all children and their families. Car seat use in Arizona is about 90%, yet car seat use in Sonora is less than 20%. A lot of this is because car seats cost more in Mexico than they do in [...]
Arizona and Sonora have a long history of collaborating on many projects over the years. We long ago understood that disease doesn't stop at the border. Arizona and Sonora were the 1st states along the U.S.-Mexico Border to share information on cross border cases in an organized way. Since 2008, we’ve been sharing this information electronically [...]
I’ve was in DC much of last week working alongside many of the health officers from the 10 US Mexico border states. We had meetings with the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission as well as events associated with Border Binational Health Week. Border Bi-national Health Week is just one of the initiatives of the Commission- whose goal is [...]
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 [...]
Earlier this week, a big event happened in Bakersfield, California where federal, state, and local officials met for a Valley Fever symposium. The symposium was led by California Congressman Kevin McCarthy. Rep. McCarthy was joined by Arizona Congressman David Schweikert, co-chair of the House of Representatives Valley Fever Task Force, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of [...]
Last year a young child came down with onchocerciasis in northern Arizona. Onchocerciasis, is caused by a filarial worm similar to dog heartworm and the roundworm that causes elephantiasis. This child had a dog-related species (Onchocerca lupi) of the roundworm in her neck next to her spinal cord and was the first documented case in the [...]
It’s almost that time of year… flu season. Flu shots have arrived and are already in many pharmacies and doctor’s offices, meaning you can already get vaccinated before the flu hits this season. There’s a wide array of influenza vaccine choices these days - more than ever. The nasal spray is approved for healthy, non-pregnant people between [...]
