This week the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs gave us the National Best Practice Award for our Empower Program. As a refresher for those of you that aren’t familiar with Empower… it’s a program we started in 2009 that focuses on increasing healthy eating and active living in our licensed child care facilities… [...]
This year’s flu really packed a wallop all across the country. In Arizona we’ve had almost 250% more cases than last year so far. But the good news is, this week’s flu report shows we’re on the downhill slope. We’ve seen fewer new cases in the past couple weeks - but it’s not completely gone. [...]
The younger you are, the more likely you are to get a tattoo. In fact, a recent Pew Research poll found that 40% of people between the age of 18 and 29 have one these days. But if you’re thinking about it or your friend or adult child is- there are some important things to consider. I’ve [...]
Our Vision at the Arizona Department of Health Services is ”Health and Wellness for all Arizonans”. Part of that Vision for folks living with behavioral health issues or a mental illness means achieving and maintaining self-reliance and independence. To get there, some individuals simply need outpatient services occasionally. Some need wrap-around community or home-based services. [...]
According to the CDC about 15% of school age kids have some hearing loss. Children who are hard of hearing will find it harder to learn vocabulary, grammar, word order, and other parts of verbal communication. Newborn hearing loss occurs in about 1 in 5,000 births- which is why it’s so important that AZ kids [...]
A new CDC report released this week gave a status update on the national Winnable Battle to reduce hospital associated infections. Not all medical procedures carry the same risk of infection, so the report uses something called a standardized infection ratio to compare infection rates among hospitals. It’s a complicated statistic, but basically, it divides [...]
I wanted to update on one of my December blog posts. Around the holidays, patients at the Arizona State Hospital decided to take on a project – to help the homeless. Patients wanted an opportunity to give back to the community in a way that would help those in need. They chose a project working [...]
Valentine’s Day isn’t just a day of romance, flowers and candy. The CDC Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative launched a campaign asking all women of childbearing age to Show Your Love by taking good care of themselves. It’s a national initiative to educate women and couples on the importance of preconception health. Preconception health [...]
Guess which one of our ADHS Websites consistently has the most hits. Our influenza pages during flu season? Medical marijuana during our rulemaking? Questions about WIC eligibility? Nope. It’s our Genealogy website. The site has had more than 5,100,000 queries in the last 2 years. Our Vital Records team has been keeping data on birth and [...]
We just issued a Request for Proposal to find a contractor to make eligibility determinations regarding whether or not folks meet the criteria for determination as seriously mentally ill (SMI) in Maricopa County. The idea is to have an objective process for eligibility determinations by contracting with an independent entity. The contractor will be responsible [...]
