ADHS Lab Ready to Test for Ebola
Our ADHS Public Health Laboratory has been authorized by the CDC to begin testing blood samples for the Ebola Virus as needed. We received an Ebola test kit on Tuesday, completed our proficiency testing Wednesday, and were approved yesterday (Thursday). The kit can test up to 9 clinical samples for the Ebola Virus. We used a few of the tests for our quality [...]
Help Your Health & Wallet
If you’re a “benefits eligible” state employee, you now have a new opportunity to improve your health and your wallet. This week Benefit Options Wellness launched a new health initiative called the Health Impact Program (HIP). It’s a point-based incentive program that encourages participation in a variety of wellness activities, while logging progress toward a goal of 500 “points”. People [...]
Continuing Medical Education for PTSD Treatment
A few weeks ago I issued a Director’s Decision that will authorize the use of marijuana (under the AZ Medical Marijuana Act) for patients undergoing treatment for PTSD. Medical marijuana certifications will be valid only for palliative care (not treatment). I delayed the implementation date until January 1 to allow time for certifying physicians, dispensary medical directors, and dispensary agents [...]
Newborn Screening Advisory Committee Recommendation: Add SCID
Newborn Screening consists of critical laboratory and bedside tests done on newborns to see if they have certain inherited diseases. Early detection for these specific diseases is critical for the babies, doctors and parents, because delays in treatment can result in irreversible developmental delays, sickness and even death. With the passage of HB 2491 last year, the legislature asked the [...]
Streamlined “Delayed Birth Certificates” for Native Americans
The vast majority of Arizonans are born in hospitals. Shortly after delivery the electronic paperwork to establish an Arizona birth certificate gets input and processed. Even babies delivered at home attended by a midwife (about 1% of Arizona births) have their birth certificate information captured and processed. Many years ago, especially in Arizona’s Indian Country, some folks were born at [...]
Enterovirus D68 Update from CO
This week there’s been some news about kids in Colorado hospitalized with neurologic illness. At this time, 10 of the kids have been hospitalized with weakness in their limbs, but no cause has been identified. The neurologic illness could be caused by enteroviorus D68 (4 of the kids have tested positive), but we don’t yet know for sure. Earlier this year, a [...]