Respiratory syncytial virus (or RSV) is a respiratory virus that mainly affects little kids- and circulates around this time of year. There’s no vaccine- but clinicians can give a preventive antibody treatment to folks at greatest risk (e.g. premature infants). It spreads mostly in the winter (like influenza) but flu and RSV don’t usually peak at [...]
I was fortunate to be able to attend the US-México Border Health Commission Annual Meeting in Ensenada this month. Mary Wakefield(Administrator for HRSA) and Víctor Hugo López Aranda (General Director of the National Commission of Social Health Protection) attended some of the meetings (and social events) and co-chaired the Plenary Session. Victor was representing the new Secretary of [...]
This month the Arizona Smokers’ Helpline expanded its arsenal of resources to help smokers quit tobacco with the addition of the Call it Quits app which debuted on ASHLine's Facebook page this week and will soon be introduced as an iPhone app. The Call It Quits app on Facebook and iPhone are another free tool brought to you by the ASHLine to help smokers win their battle against tobacco. The [...]
We’ll be kicking off our newest Rulemaking Adventure on Monday... when we begin the process of putting together Rules for our Licensing shop that streamline and support healthcare integration- allowing the flexibility for healthcare institutions to provide a blend of physical and behavioral health services. The idea is to put together licensing rules that are flexible and [...]
… is often the question when it comes to common indoor air quality questions or in response to a communicable disease outbreak (or diagnoses) in the workplace. The answer is not to sample (almost without exception). A good case study came up this week when a library and high school were closed after some environmental [...]
Almost 40 years ago, Dr. John M. Doll came to work at ADHS and left quite a legacy. His philosophy about researching and publishing data that can be used to make a difference lives on... even though he passed away. Every year, epidemiologists in Public Health Prevention submit the papers they have published to an internal [...]
We have 2 peak periods for foodborne illnesses in Arizona. One peak is in the summer months because it’s so stinkin’ hot and food gets out of temperature. The other peak is between Thanksgiving and the New Year. We’re not sure why we have an increase if foodborne illnesses from now until the end of [...]
One of our primary goals over the last couple of years has been to shift the focus of our performance measures toward actual outcomes. In other words, we don’t want to measure our success on simple activities like whether we did an intervention, placed an ad, or whether someone’s paperwork is right- but on whether [...]
Over the last few weeks, we've been working on ways to engage family members in the treatment of patients- as part of our continuing efforts to promote a culture of care at the hospital that reflects recovery and resilience. One of those ways is to make sure that our policies make it easier for family members to visit the [...]
Your health is influenced by lots of things- genetics, behaviors, and the environment into which you're born, grow, work, and live. A “Health Impact Assessment” is a way of assessing and influencing policy or project decisions to improve health. A simple example is that if your neighborhood has safe, accessible sidewalks or walking or biking paths, you’ll be more likely to be physically active. [...]
