Fire Season Here Already
Our Department plays a significant role in the response for major wildland fires… and we’re monitoring the current fires closely to make sure that we cover our bases. Our initial roles mostly include environmental health functions, especially surrounding health risks from smoke, sanitary conditions and food safety in shelters and ensuring that all of our licensed facilities are OK. You can [...]
AZ Child Dies from Flu
Most people think that when the weather warms up, we can stop worrying about the flu. But it’s still here. Recently, a young Gila County child died from influenza. It's the only pediatric death from flu in Arizona this year, last year 5 children under 18 died. Adult flu deaths are not tracked by the state. This year’s flu season [...]
Week 1 for Dispensary App’s
We’ll wrap up our first week of accepting medical marijuana dispensary Registration Certificate applications today. We’ve received about 40 applications so far this week- and our team has been doing an excellent job of reviewing the applications for “Administrative Completeness” this week- so much so that we don’t even have a backlog (yet). Any applications that are “Administratively Incomplete” (in other [...]
Watershed Week for Behavioral Health Services
The Governor and I and the plaintiffs in the 1981 Arnold v. Sarn lawsuit signed a landmark agreement today which will last 2 years (pending the court’s approval). Today’s agreement outlines objectives for supported care and services for folks with a serious mental illness. Over the next couple of years we’ll work together with the plaintiffs to enhance Arizona’s behavioral [...]
2011 AZ Diabetes Burden Report
Our Tobacco and Chronic Disease team released the 2011 Diabetes Burden Report this week. And you guessed it- a primary cause is a lack of physical activity and poor nutrition (I know I sound like a broken record). Diabetes is linked to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy and even amputations. Sadly, AZ and the nation are [...]
Improving Outcomes for Pediatric Brain Injury
A quick and effective response is critical when you have a brain injury. That’s why our Excellence in Pre-hospital Injury Care Project is so critical. It’s a unique NIH funded collaboration between the ADHS and the U of A College of Medicine’s Emergency Medicine Research Center. More than 150 EMS agencies in AZ are now participating- which aims to improve survival from moderate [...]