Last year at this time the new H1N1 flu virus was going gangbusters. Loads of Arizonans were getting sick (especially kids), the vaccine was still in short supply. The county health departments were prioritizing which doctors could get the vaccine. What a difference a year makes. Flu activity across the country is light (so far), [...]
Valley Fever has been in the media a lot lately. Part of the reason is because last Saturday we kicked off the 8th annual Valley Fever Awareness Week in recognition of the outstanding treatment and research conducted by the Valley Fever Center for Excellence as well as the advances in Valley Fever education and public [...]
We’ve just confirmed 11 cases of E. coli in AZ. Our cases appear to be part of a multi-state outbreak that’s associated with Gouda cheese sold at Costco. Maricopa (5 stores), Pima (1 store) and Yavapai counties (1 store) are involved with the investigation and the suspect cheese has been held in back stock until [...]
Suicide is one of the most challenging and sensitive public health issues that we face, partly because so many folks have a hard time talking about the subject. It’s especially challenging for families that experience suicide first hand. 1,060 Arizonans died from suicide in 2009 the highest number ever, making it the 6th leading cause [...]
I started my career in public health working as a county Sanitarian doing inspections of restaurants, motels and the like in the mid- 1980s. My area was right around here down toward South Mountain and I inspected the cafeteria in the basement of the Executive Tower and the cafeteria that used to be on the [...]
If Prop 203 passes today, we’ll definitely get flooded with phone calls from people that want information on how they can get a license to become a dispensary starting Wednesday. There’s absolutely no way we could ever try to answer the inevitable questions over the phone. Number 1, we won’t have full answers until at [...]
Did you know that Arizona achieved an historic low Infant Mortality Rate (5.9 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births) in 2009? Infant mortality has long been a public health barometer to assess the general health of a community because good birth outcomes require a host of things to go right. There are many risk [...]
If Proposition 203 passes (the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act), one of our key decisions will be how to set up some kind of selection process for approving marijuana dispensary applications. The Act states that the number of Cannabis dispensaries will be limited to 10% of the number of pharmacies in the state. As of right [...]
Now that the weather has finally broken here in the desert you can visit your local farmers market without having to get up at the crack of dawn. Check out our Farmers’ Market Locator to find the nearest farmers market. Simply go to the application link and put in any address and city and push “Find Market”. The program will [...]
Thanks to the 2009 Vital Statistics report, we also know that AZ residents went to the ER more than 1.8 million times. The top reasons (about 25%) for those visits were abdominal pain, acute upper respiratory infection, chest pain, cuts, mental disorders, and spinal disorders. More than 1,300 Arizonans were treated in an emergency room for [...]
