The U.S. Department issued new guidance for federal prosecutors last week. We had been anticipating a new memo from Justice for some time- hoping that it would clarify whether the dispensary portions of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act are legal under federal law (the Controlled Substances Act). We were also hoping it would help us figure out how [...]
This week's giant dust storm (technically called a haboob) blew through the valley leaving dust hovering in the air for days. The ADEQ said one Phoenix testing station recorded an astronomical reading of over 6,000 micrograms per cubic meter (of PM 10) on Tuesday evening (the federal EPA standard is 150 averaged over a day). PM 10 is a measurement [...]
If you’re my age, you probably walked or biked to school- it was a basic part of our culture. Unfortunately the tradition has been lost (for now). In 1969 half of all kids walked or bicycled to and from school and almost 90% of kids that lived within a mile of school walked or biked. Today only [...]
A couple of years ago (when the financial crisis was just starting), we brainstormed about how we could bring down the utility bills in our State Laboratory. The Lab has always been electricity intensive, partly because of the workplace safety requirements etc. (e.g. the “hoods”) require more air exchange than a normal building. That means constantly [...]
The Pew Children’s Dental Campaign released the State of Children’s Dental Health Report that grades each state’s policy responses to the crisis in dental health among America’s children. Arizona raised its grade to a “B” for 2011. We made improvements in the share of high-risk schools that participate in the school-based sealant program. This can [...]
Jeanette Shea is retiring at the end of July. She’s been with the Department for more than 20 years serving as a Program Manager, Social Work Consultant, Section Chief then Office Chief for Women’s and Children’s Health and finally as the Assistant Director for Public Health Prevention for the last few years. She’s has been [...]
We made more progress filling our key positions in behavioral health this week. We're delighted that Ashraf Lasee, MPH, Dr.PH, M.B.B.S has agreed to serve as our new Division Chief for Quality Management. Ashraf has a keen respect for data and understands the importance of solid data collection and analysis in driving quality improvement. She recognizes the importantance of data integrity, understands its importance in program performance [...]
Ann Froio has been the Department’s “Fix-it” specialist for the last several years. Most recently, Ann has served as Interim CEO for the Arizona State Hospital while the Department conducted a national search for a new CEO. For the year prior to that, Ann served as the Interim Director at the Arizona Community Protection and Treatment [...]
Bill McCarroll was asked to participate and present in an interagency forum regarding the quality assurance issues linked to domestic violence treatment and the courts. This group was designed to bring together key stakeholders invested in studying the behavioral health licensing and treatment nuances in addressing the needs of persons involved in domestic violence. Important conversations [...]
This has been a super hot week- and we’ve even had a couple of extreme heat warnings in the southern deserts with more to come this holiday weekend (it might get to 120o Saturday). Homeless folks have the highest risk for heat-related illness because they have limited access to cool spaces and finding water to drink [...]
