The Dose Makes the Poison
The first thing that you learn in a Toxicology 101 class is the old saying coined by the Renaissance German scientist Paracelsus that: "All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous." We've shortened that to: 'the dose makes the poison". Anyway... a key question for public health is to figure [...]
‘Tis the Season to Stay Hydrated…
An excessive heat warning has been issued this week, with temps climbing up to 113!!!! The AZ heat is a lot more than a nuisance – it's lethal. Our latest report on heat shows that about 1,400 Arizonans get a heat related illness so serious they end up in a hospital emergency room – hundreds of them are admitted because [...]
AZ Smokes the Field
AZ had the biggest % decrease in teen smoking rates in the country according to the new CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey this week. Smoking rates among AZ teens dropped 12% in the last couple of years- while rates generally stayed flat across the country. That's 11,000 fewer teen tobacco users between 2009 and 2011. About half of the teenagers in AZ that smoke tried to quit [...]
Wellness!
I'm excited to announce that we have 32 teams signed up for the ADHS Worksite Wellness Stair Climb Challenge. Stair climbing and other physical activities have so many health benefits including decreasing your risk of developing a chronic disease, improving your mental health and mood, and it increases your chances of living longer. So, Get Your Climb On!
Strategic Plan Update
Strategic Effectiveness is defined by three essential components: Formulate a Plan, Implement the Plan, and Review and Adjust. Many times we do the first two and forget to come back to the third most important step needed for true progress to occur. To “review and adjust,” our senior leadership met in mid-April to do an annual review of our strategic map. [...]
SNAP Paper Goes National
Many of you have heard how I’d like to see the food stamp program (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) hard-wire better nutrition into the program by beginning to include nutritious food inventory criteria for SNAP vendors. To help make the case, we contracted with the ASU School of Nutrition & Health Promotion to write a White [...]