Pre- School & Special Needs Kids
A couple of months ago I heard a story from a parent of a special needs kid who told me that she was trying to find a pre-school- but her kid was denied admission. She said that the facility told her that our licensing regulations wouldn’t allow the school to admit her child because he or she wasn’t completely potty [...]
Breastfeeding is Helping to Reduce Childhood Obesity
Increasing the percentage of women that choose to breastfeed is a critical evidence-based practice for addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Here in Arizona, we have a lot to celebrate during World Breastfeeding Week- because of our collective work to increase breastfeeding is paying off. Arizona’s percentage of babies who begin breastfeeding has jumped to 83% according to CDCs just released Breastfeeding [...]
Cottage Home Successes
A couple years ago, the legislature passed a bill to allow people to make certain foods at home and sell them to the public. The food has to be a low-risk for food-borne diseases, but there's lots of options. The program is a great success - we have more than 1,700 people registered for the program right now. Bakers [...]
Computer Issues Strike Again
Early this morning the computer data center that we use for ADHS programs lost power. When this happens, all those systems like the birth and death certificate system, the Women, Infant and Children's system and the medical marijuana system are not available until the power is restored and we can bring them back online. Fixing the power source is often the [...]
National Immunization Awareness Month
National Immunization Awareness Month gives us a great opportunity to talk about the need to improve national immunization coverage levels. Vaccine-preventable diseases are becoming increasingly rare in the US because vaccines are effective, but that doesn’t mean we should stop vaccinating. Even though most infants and toddlers have received all recommended vaccines by age 2, there are still many under-immunized children, [...]
2012 AZ Abortion Surveillance Report
State law directs us to produce several reports each year to help the public know what’s happening in the state and to help with public policy development. One of the more recently required reports is an annual report on abortion. This is the 3rd year we’ve published our annual Abortion Surveillance Report. This year's report found that there was a 7% decrease in the number of [...]