Pregnancy & Group B Strep
Decisions about what to do to protect babies born at home from Group B Streptococcus caused quite a stir as we were developing our final regulations for the practice of Midwifery in AZ. Group B Streptococcus bacteria are commonly found in healthy women. In fact, about 25% carry the bacteria. It doesn’t cause much of a problem for women, except [...]
Petitions to Add Debilitating Conditions to the MM List
The AZ Medical Marijuana Act also requires us to periodically accept petitions to permanently add new medical conditions to the list of conditions that qualify folks for a card. In Jan 2012, we’ve received petitions to add PTSD 1; PTSD 2; Depression; Migraines; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. In short- I didn’t approve the petitions because of the lack of published data regarding the risks and [...]
An AZ Monsoon Staple: The Scorpion
In the Sonoran Desert monsoon = scorpion season. We have more than 56 species of scorpions- but the bark scorpion is the biggie. Since you live in the bark scorpion’s territory, you probably have them around or maybe even inside your home. The Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center and Banner Good Samaritan Poison & Drug Information Center answer thousands of calls every year [...]
HIP2 Launches New Website
Health in Policy and Practice Arizona (HIP2) has launched a new website. HIP2 is a great local resource for Health Impact Assessment data and information. Health Impact Assessments are a data-driven tool used to assess the potential health impacts of a policy, project, program or proposal. They’re a great tool to ensure that health and health disparities are considered in decision-making [...]
President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition
If you’re a product of the 60s and 70s like me… you probably remember that the President’s Council on Physical Fitness was a big deal in elementary school. At least it was in Tucson where I grew up. By practicing things like chin ups, rope climbing, and running a mile in a certain time you could qualify for a cool badge and [...]
Mid-Monsoon West Nile Update
Monsoon rain and humidity is great (at least I think so)… but with it comes mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus. Every year since West Nile virus was introduced to AZ in ‘04, we’ve had human cases of West Nile Virus (meaning it’s endemic now). The total number of cases bumps around every year from our high of 391 cases [...]