America's Drug Abusers Going Gray
The proportion of people admitted for drug abuse treatment over 50 nearly doubled between 1992 and 2008. While alcohol still is the leading cause of admissions in this age group, sharp increases were noted in those needing treatment for heroin, cocaine and marijuana, according to the study published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). You can [...]
AZ Developmental Disability Planning Council Grant Opportunity
The Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council was established by the Governor in September 2009. It’s part of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000. I’m on the Council. Our mission is to represent the interests and needs of persons with developmental disabilities throughout Arizona- especially people that are underserved. We support capacity building and systems change [...]
New Urgent Psychiatric Center on the Way
One of the behavioral health challenges that we’ve been facing in the valley over the last several years has been the lack of places that are available for urgent psychiatric care. Oftentimes persons in an acute psychiatric crisis end up being treated in an emergency department where they might not have the expertise to provide optimal treatment. If there isn’t [...]
ACPTC
Our ACPTC provides for the civil commitment of people who have a mental disorder that predisposes a person to commit sexual acts that pose a danger to the health and safety of others (A.R.S. § 36-3701, et. seq.). The mission of the center is to provide therapy to those individuals who have been civilly committed- with the goal of reintegrating [...]
AZ Obesity Update
The Trust for America’s Health released their annual obesity report. Overall, the national trend toward increasing obesity rates continued it’s march forward. Arizona ranked in the middle of the pack, but the pack itself in increasingly unhealthy. More than two-thirds of states have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. [...]
CDC’s “Science Clips”
I have a new bookmark spot for you. It’s called Science Clips, and it’s the CDC’s newest weekly publication. Each week selected science clips will be posted on the site for the public health community with the goal of enhancing awareness of emerging scientific knowledge. The focus is applied public health research and prevention science that has the capacity to [...]