Ebola Epidemic Index Case Identified?
A 2 year-old boy from Guinea appears to be what we call in our business the “Index Case” for the West African Ebola epidemic. In epidemiology, an Index Case is the first documented case of an illness that spreads to others. The 2 year-old appears to have been infected by playing in a hollow tree that housed a colony of [...]
Arizona’s Paramedic Training: Excellent Results
Arizona’s Paramedic training programs are taught by a combination of colleges, private training centers, and fire departments. A typical Paramedic course is over 1,000 hours of class room, hospital and ambulance time covering anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, terminology, and hours and hours of assessment and proficiency tests on a multitude of skills. To become certified as a Paramedic in Arizona, [...]
ADHS: A Gold Fit Friendly Worksite
Each year the American Heart Association recognizes employers who go above and beyond when it comes to their employees’ health...and we were recognized as a Gold Fit-Friendly Worksite for 2014. We’re among an elite group of nationally-recognized awardees for our efforts to promote a healthy workplace. As a Gold Level award recipient, we’ve been recognized for valuing the importance of a [...]
Statewide Heroin Broadcast This Week
Every broadcast TV station and most radio outlets across Arizona will air simultaneously a 30-minute commercial-free investigative report produced by ASU student journalists on the growing perils of heroin and opioid use on Tuesday, January 13, at 6:30 pm. You may remember a similar broadcast a few years ago about methamphetamine use. That broadcast did a great job raising the [...]
Staying in the Saddle
We’ve had a great run together since I accepted the Interim ADHS Director position 6 years ago. I’m grateful to all of you for trusting me in this important position and for working together for the benefit of the folks of Arizona. We’ve made tremendous progress toward our Vision of Health and Wellness for all Arizonans over the last 6 [...]
State Health Assessment & Arizona Health Improvement Plan
To better understand the health status of Arizona's population, we partnered with the county health departments to conduct Community Health Assessments in 2014. We used the Community Health Assessments to develop a comprehensive State Health Assessment, which became basis for putting together an Arizona Health Improvement Plan (AzHIP). We began developing the AzHIP in late 2014 by prioritizing the 15 [...]