Gettin’ to School
If you’re my age, you probably walked or biked to school- it was a basic part of our culture. Unfortunately the tradition has been lost (for now). In 1969 half of all kids walked or bicycled to and from school and almost 90% of kids that lived within a mile of school walked or biked. Today only 15% of kids walk or [...]
State Lab Energy Efficiency
A couple of years ago (when the financial crisis was just starting), we brainstormed about how we could bring down the utility bills in our State Laboratory. The Lab has always been electricity intensive, partly because of the workplace safety requirements etc. (e.g. the “hoods”) require more air exchange than a normal building. That means constantly bringing in 115 degree air [...]
Kid’s Teeth in AZ
The Pew Children’s Dental Campaign released the State of Children’s Dental Health Report that grades each state’s policy responses to the crisis in dental health among America’s children. Arizona raised its grade to a “B” for 2011. We made improvements in the share of high-risk schools that participate in the school-based sealant program. This can partly be attributed to our [...]
Jeanette’s Movin’ On
Jeanette Shea is retiring at the end of July. She’s been with the Department for more than 20 years serving as a Program Manager, Social Work Consultant, Section Chief then Office Chief for Women’s and Children’s Health and finally as the Assistant Director for Public Health Prevention for the last few years. She’s has been involved in a number of [...]
Filling the Gaps
We made more progress filling our key positions in behavioral health this week. We're delighted that Ashraf Lasee, MPH, Dr.PH, M.B.B.S has agreed to serve as our new Division Chief for Quality Management. Ashraf has a keen respect for data and understands the importance of solid data collection and analysis in driving quality improvement. She recognizes the importantance of data integrity, understands its importance in program performance assessment- and knows how to [...]
Our Fix-it Specialist
Ann Froio has been the Department’s “Fix-it” specialist for the last several years. Most recently, Ann has served as Interim CEO for the Arizona State Hospital while the Department conducted a national search for a new CEO. For the year prior to that, Ann served as the Interim Director at the Arizona Community Protection and Treatment Center (ACPTC). She’s also served [...]