2014 Punch-list for a Healthier You
Make healthy food choices. Grab a healthy snack such as fruit, nuts, or low-fat cheese. Be active. Try simple things such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Be active for at least 2½ hours a week. Children and adolescents should get at least 1 hour of physical activity each day. Find out more about the benefits of regular [...]
Start the New Year Off Right: Kick the Habit
50 years ago this week the 1st Surgeon General’s report on the health dangers of smoking was published- and we’re still fighting the battle. About 43 million Americans still smoke despite decades of warnings. Smoking kills more people every year than car crashes, suicides, murders, illegal and prescription drugs, and alcohol abuse combined (6,800 people each year in Arizona). If [...]
AZ Disease Detective Software Overhaul
Our statewide disease detectives (whose job it is to slow the spread of communicable diseases) need real-time electronic surveillance in order to get the job done. Our I.T. folks and the people in Public Health Preparedness have been working on an upgraded system to help them for the last several months- and our new Medical Electronic Disease Surveillance Intelligence System (MEDSIS) [...]
Sochi Public Health Tips
I know that some of you out there are going to attend the Winter Olympics - so I put together the blog post below over the weekend for folks that might be going. Here goes in case you’re interested: Let’s start with the good news first- then the health tips… Sochi Games to be Smoke Free- Russians are 4th in the world [...]
MERS Update
Back in the fall I mentioned the new SARS-like virus, MERS-CoV, which has been causing severe illness, and sometimes death, mainly in the Arabian Peninsula. Four months ago, 103 cases had been reported worldwide, about half of them fatal. Now, 177 cases have been reported, with 74 deaths. The cases are almost all located in the Arabian Peninsula, with 80% [...]
Behavioral Health Efficiency Moves
This week we’re making 3 efficiency changes in our behavioral health system. Instead of having providers bill us and AHCCCS for different services, all the bills will go to AHCCCS- and we’ll get statements from them. It’ll be the same with enrollment- all paperwork is processed through AHCCCS and we’ll get a standard report that will keep the system up-to-date. The [...]