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 [...]
AZ Carecheck
It’s been a while since I mentioned to you that our Division of Licensing has a really good web site called AZ Care Check. Our website provides a 3 year history of survey results, complaint investigation results and if any of our licensed facilities (nursing homes, assisted living, hospital and other medical facilities, childcare or behavioral healthcare services) including any [...]