Another Reason to Get a Flu Shot
Investigators of a new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association discovered another reason that some people may benefit from getting the flu shot. The study found that getting an annual flu vaccine puts the person at lower risk of having a heart attack, stroke, heart failure, or death from a heart-related event. The [...]
Ambulance Service Enhanced Surveillance
This past summer I blogged about Rural Metro failing to meet a bond payment and having some issues with an ambulance service contract in California. They subsequently filed for bankruptcy and are in the process of negotiating with their creditors. This is important- because they’re a big provider of 9-1-1 and hospital to hospital ambulance service in Arizona and [...]
New Vaccine Exemption Form Being Used this Year
Arizona law requires kids to receive certain vaccines in order to attend school unless a doctor signs a medical exemption form or a parent signs a religious or personal beliefs exemption form. There has been an increasing number of parents who are signing exemption forms- putting herd immunity at risk in some parts of the state. We updated the vaccine [...]
Maricopa County RBHA Update
The formal protest process regarding our award of the Regional Behavioral Health Authority contract in Maricopa County is finally winding down. The oral part of the hearing in front of the Administrative Law Judge was completed a couple of weeks ago. The final legal filings are due next week and the responses to those filings are due October 29. At [...]
New Public Health Blog
Our new Public Health Blog is now live! The goal of the blog is for our Prevention Services to promote our work with the public and with our partners through better use of social media. We’ll also be adding some new features, such as an interactive info-graphic tool and video clips highlighting selected blog posts. Now it’s up to us [...]
Infection Prevention Week
This week is International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW), which started in 1986 under a proclamation from President Reagan. For the 4th year in a row, October 20-26, 2013 is Arizona Infection Prevention Week. Since it started, the week has been used to spread awareness about interventions that promote safe healthcare practices and prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Arizona public health and [...]