Diabetes Awareness
More than 10% of Arizonans have diabetes. But what’s even more alarming are the recent estimate by the CDC that about 1.5 million Arizonans (25%) have pre-diabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered diabetes. Pre-diabetes significantly raises a person’s risk of Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease and stroke. [...]
Influenza’s Having a Field Week in AZ
The flu vaccine that you and your family got earlier will pay off over the next couple of weeks, it's going gangbusters right now.  We monitor several different indicators to determine the level of flu activity in the state and all are on the rise right now including increased school nurse and health care clinic visits for influenza-like illness.  We're getting so many [...]
Regulatory Relief in a Public Health Emergency
I often write about the benefits and leverage we can achieve for our public health goals by partnering with external organizations and Stakeholders, but sometimes the collaborative initiatives are with ourself. Our Medical Facility Licensing and Emergency Preparedness teams have been working with our licensed facilities to figure out what they’d need in terms of regulatory relief if there’s a [...]
Mental Health First Aid Coming to Arizona
Mental Health First Aid is a novel, evidence-based public education program designed to teach non-professional people a five-step process to assess a situation, select and implement appropriate interventions, and help a person in crisis or who may be developing the signs and symptoms of mental illness. The groundbreaking training equips people to provide initial help until appropriate professional, peer or [...]
Medical Marijuana Public Comment session
We had the second of four public hearings on the draft rules in Tempe on Tuesday afternoon. We got a lot of good input from folks and there were some good suggestions to improve the draft rule. The most valuable comments came from people that offered concrete ideas for ways we can improve the rule's effectiveness. There are two more [...]
Maricopa County Measles Case
Maricopa County Department of Public Health (and our Lab) confirmed a case of measles in an Arizona resident this week. Measles is one of the most communicable diseases there is (next to chicken pox).  It’s a viral disease of the upper respiratory system that’s spread in the air via droplets. Measles starts with a fever and cough, eye irritation and [...]
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