Drowning happens quickly and quietly in a matter of minutes. It happens in all kinds of places – bathtubs, swimming pools, buckets – anything with water. So far this year in Arizona, 27 people have died including 6 children. Last year that number was sixty - 20 were children. August is Drowning Impact Awareness Month. [...]
We finally got some better news from the childhood obesity public health front this week. Tuesday’s CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that childhood obesity rates are stabilizing or decreasing slightly across the country. In fact, 19 states had a significant downward trend in obesity prevalence among low-income preschoolers. There was no change in [...]
One of the most important aspects of public health is sharing effective, creative ideas with other public health agencies so more people can benefit from what we learn. Each year the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials highlights really good programs with their Vision Awards. This year, they selected 2 from Arizona to share [...]
A couple of months ago I heard a story from a parent of a special needs kid who told me that she was trying to find a pre-school- but her kid was denied admission. She said that the facility told her that our licensing regulations wouldn’t allow the school to admit her child because he [...]
Increasing the percentage of women that choose to breastfeed is a critical evidence-based practice for addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Here in Arizona, we have a lot to celebrate during World Breastfeeding Week- because of our collective work to increase breastfeeding is paying off. Arizona’s percentage of babies who begin breastfeeding has jumped to 83% [...]
A couple years ago, the legislature passed a bill to allow people to make certain foods at home and sell them to the public. The food has to be a low-risk for food-borne diseases, but there's lots of options. The program is a great success - we have more than 1,700 people registered for the [...]
Early this morning the computer data center that we use for ADHS programs lost power. When this happens, all those systems like the birth and death certificate system, the Women, Infant and Children's system and the medical marijuana system are not available until the power is restored and we can bring them back online. Fixing the [...]
National Immunization Awareness Month gives us a great opportunity to talk about the need to improve national immunization coverage levels. Vaccine-preventable diseases are becoming increasingly rare in the US because vaccines are effective, but that doesn’t mean we should stop vaccinating. Even though most infants and toddlers have received all recommended vaccines by age 2, there [...]
State law directs us to produce several reports each year to help the public know what’s happening in the state and to help with public policy development. One of the more recently required reports is an annual report on abortion. This is the 3rd year we’ve published our annual Abortion Surveillance Report. This year's report found that there was a [...]
Operating any type of medical or behavioral health facility is a balancing act. It’s especially delicate at the Arizona State Hospital because we deal with patients who suffer from the most severe symptoms of mental illness. Treatment practices at ASH has changed through the years to reflect contemporary approaches. Decades ago, people with mental illness were heavily medicated [...]
