Teen Pregnancy Interventions
Preventing teen pregnancies could save Arizona more than $180M/year. Teen mothers face higher rates of preterm birth, and their kids have higher rates of low birth weight and infant death. Compared to women who delay childbearing until the age of 20 to 21 years, teenage moms are more likely to drop out of high school and to be and remain single parents. [...]
Hospital Potpourri
The State Hospital folks have been very generous with their clothing donations to ICM as part of our SECC campaign. In one week our Hospital folks donated a completely full pickup load of clothes etc. that went to ICM for distribution to needy folks. Awesome job- thanks. I also had an opportunity to do a walk through of the new [...]
Cannabis Cultivation- Post Prop. 203
Where would the inventory come from if Proposition 203 (the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act) passes? As near as I can tell… it could come from at least 3 places: enclosed cultivation facilities associated with dispensaries; enclosed cultivation facilities operated by caregivers on behalf of cardholders, if the people they care for live 25 miles from the nearest dispensary; or in [...]
Cimex lectularius & You (aka Bed Bugs & You)
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) haven’t really been a problem in AZ for the last few decades. Sure, we’ve had reports of bed bug infestations, but they’ve mostly been limited to areas around the Grand Canyon where lots of international travelers come and go toting their sleeping bags. After all, bed bugs are basically hitch-hikers, so it makes sense that they’d [...]
New Housing and Chronic Disease Prevention Grants
Our Behavioral Health Division picked up a cool $2M (federal) grant from the AZ Department of Housing last month. This $2M plus the $2M we received several months ago, now equals $4M that we’ll be able to use in our bridge subsidy voucher program. Just like in sales, the cornerstone for making public health progress is to sharpen your focus [...]
Home Visiting Needs Assessment
Recent research on brain development has found long-term benefits for families when they receive home visits during pregnancy and after the birth of a child. Benefits include enhanced child health and development, reduced child abuse and neglect, early identification and treatment of developmental delays and health issues, improved pregnancy outcomes, improved self-sufficiency of the family, improved school readiness and better [...]