New Foods for WIC Families in Arizona
Getting kids to eat healthy is hard, especially for busy moms. The Arizona WIC program now offers new foods to help families provide nutritious meals. Yogurt, whole wheat pasta, and new brands of cereal and baby foods for older babies are now available through the WIC program. The full list of foods includes many fresh, frozen and canned vegetables, milks, cheeses, and cereals. WIC [...]
Setting Public Health Grant Spending Priorities
Public health has reach into many areas that you may not think about. Currently we’re working to reduce the number of prescription drug overdoses and deaths. The misuse of prescription drugs is a national epidemic. We’re working with the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission to attack the problem here. The funding for our prevention efforts comes from the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant from the [...]
Empowering Habits, Empowering Lives: Superheroes Empowering Arizona!
This past weekend, we held the fourth annual “Empowering Habits and Empowering Lives” Empower Conference. More than 250 Early Care and Education professionals from all over Arizona participated in the all-day meeting. Conference participants explored the Empower Program's 10 Standards to Empower Children to Live Healthy Lives and learned how to be more effective through developing cultural competency and inclusiveness. The conference [...]
Surviving Triple Digits in Arizona
In Arizona it doesn’t have to be summer for the temperatures to soar. With the first 100 degree day in Phoenix today, we know the scorching heat is right around the corner. High outdoor temperatures aren’t just an inconvenience; they’re dangerous. Heat is the number one killer weather-related cause of death in Arizona and across the country. In 2013, there [...]
Grant Funding Helps Homeless Across Arizona
At the end of March, the men’s overflow shelter closed in downtown Phoenix. The shelter housed up to 350 homeless men at full capacity. The city condemned the building for asbestos. We’re one of many community partners responding to the housing needs of vulnerable people in Arizona. Our permanent supportive housing program will provide an additional 425 housing units this [...]
Vaccine Exemptions – Turning the Tide?
Vaccines are scientifically proven to be the best way to prevent the spread of many communicable diseases. Yet, through the last decade, Arizona along with the rest of the country has seen an increase in the number of families choosing not to vaccinate their children. A recent outbreak that started at Disneyland created a firestorm of interest in vaccinations, especially since it produced the [...]