Outcomes- Public Health’s Lighthouse
One of our primary goals over the last couple of years has been to shift the focus of our performance measures toward actual outcomes. In other words, we don’t want to measure our success on simple activities like whether we did an intervention, placed an ad, or whether someone’s paperwork is right- but on whether our interventions and services actually [...]
Hospital Visitation Refresh
Over the last few weeks, we've been working on ways to engage family members in the treatment of patients- as part of our continuing efforts to promote a culture of care at the hospital that reflects recovery and resilience. One of those ways is to make sure that our policies make it easier for family members to visit the hospital... and our teams have been working on [...]
Tempe’s Health Impact Assessment
Your health is influenced by lots of things- genetics, behaviors, and the environment into which you're born, grow, work, and live. A “Health Impact Assessment” is a way of assessing and influencing policy or project decisions to improve health. A simple example is that if your neighborhood has safe, accessible sidewalks or walking or biking paths, you’ll be more likely to be physically active. Health Impact Assessments are used alot in Europe- and [...]
What’s a GASO?
Today is the Great American Smoke Out – started by the American Cancer Society to encourage smokers to quit, even if it is just for one day. Arizona is doing very well compared to the rest of the country when you talk about stopping smoking. Our state is down to 16% of the adult population that smokes - the national [...]
Vigilant Guard Epilog
That largest exercise in Arizona history wrapped up last weekend, but now the work begins. Vigilant Guard featured a pseudo tropical storm, flooding and a nuclear bomb blast in downtown Phoenix. Arizona cities, counties, state and federal agencies participated in the exercise - testing emergency and evacuation plans, as well plans to transport and prioritize patients. 5,000 participants were working [...]
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most serious tickborne disease in the US. AZ has recorded 38 cases so far this year compared to 17 in all of 2010. Most of the cases are in the eastern part of the state. The disease’s symptoms include a nasty “spotted” rash that usually starts 2-5 days after a fever starts. Early antibiotic treatment is critical, because [...]