Special Needs Emergency Preparedness Manual
The first link in the chain of survival during a public health disaster is people taking responsibility for their own family’s safety. Being prepared at home is the first line of defense. Families that have family members with special needs sometimes need to have more detailed plans to ensure that their needs will be met during those critical first hours [...]
6.4 Trillion Calories
Can you picture 6.4 trillion calories? That’s the number of fewer calories sold by 16 major food companies in the last 5 years. The companies include names like Campbell’s Soup and the Coca-Cola Company. All are part of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation and have pledged to remove calories from their products as a public health intervention. A study published last [...]
Medical Marijuana News
We published our mid-year update of the medical marijuana annual report this week. It contains different data than our standard annual report in that we’re reporting aggregate dispensary transaction data. In the report you’ll see that there were about 422,000 transactions made at dispensaries in ‘13 among the 40,000 patients (about 10 transactions/patient/year). Dispensaries sold 2,700 Kg of marijuana in [...]
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) [...]