Cory Goes Permanent
I’m happy to announce that I’ve permanently appointed Cory Nelson as our official Deputy Director for Behavioral Health. He’s been serving in the Acting capacity since August of ‘12 and has shown great skill and leadership in the position. He’s been very successful working with our leadership and our Agency team as well as our behavioral health stakeholders and colleagues [...]
AAP Issues Home Birth Guidelines
The American Academy of Pediatrics put out a new policy statement called “Planned Home Birth” this week. The Policy Document summarizes the standards of care for newborn infants born at home. It’s designed to help pediatricians provide supportive, informed advice to women considering home birth. The AAP Report says they agree with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that hospitals [...]
AZ Cities’ General Plan Schedules
A city’s General Plan is one tool for communities to define how they want their city or town to grow and improve population health. Currently, Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, and Scottsdale are updating their General Plans, and each city has a variety of resources that give community members the opportunity to share their opinions and get involved with making their community [...]
National Spotlight on AZ’s High Risk Perinatal Program
The March edition of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Program’s Issue Brief highlights the great strides Arizona has made in decreasing neonatal deaths since the inception of our High Risk Perinatal Program/Newborn Intensive Care Program. When the program started in the 1970s, 1.8% of neonates died within a month of being born. As a result of a host of [...]
Mental Health Month Kickoff (opening pitch!)
Guest Blog by Claudia Sloan; Communications, Cultural Competency, Workforce Development in the Behavioral Health Services Division Today is the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month... and in honor of that the Arizona Diamondbacks in collaboration with the Mental Health Awareness Coalition is hosting an event during tonight's D-backs game against division rival San Francisco Giants. At the game and all month long, [...]
Measles & International Travel
Guest Blog from Ken Komatsu, State Epidemiologist With over 1 billion people crossing international borders each year, vaccine preventable diseases not usually found in Arizona, can arrive at any time. Earlier this month a young child from Pima County became ill with a rash illness while visiting Asia. This region of the world has had over a thousand cases of [...]