Whooping Cough (aka Pertussis)
Whooping cough (pertussis) is a vaccine preventable disease that causes a severe and chronic cough. It’s a nuisance for adults and adolescents, but it’s potentially lethal for infants. California is having a serious outbreak right now with 4 times the normal number of cases this year. Our numbers are up too, but nothing like in California. So far this year, [...]
Behavioral Health Services Package Preparations
Our behavioral health team has been working for months to ensure a smooth transition to the new behavioral health service package for our folks that are receiving services but don’t qualify for AHCCCS benefits. We’re continuing to update our Guidelines Fact Sheet and our guidance to contractors regarding services to Non-Title XIX members with serious mental illness, crisis services and [...]
CDC’s “Science Clips”
I have a new bookmark spot for you. It’s called Science Clips; 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 improve [...]
Child Nutrition Act
As you remember from previous posts- the Child Nutrition Act has been introduced in the Senate and moved out of Committee. This month, a bipartisan group of members in the U.S. House introduced a similar bill to reauthorize and amend the Child Nutrition Act, “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act.” The bill is posted at Improving Nutrition for Americas Children [...]
Giving Babies a Boost
We kicked off an initiative this month to increase the percentage of mom’s that choose to breastfeed their newborn. The real key to success turns out to be the first couple of days after the baby is born (actually the first few hours are the most important). Our new program is called Baby Steps to Breastfeeding. It’s a voluntary 5-point plan [...]
Schultz Fire Update
The “Schultz” fire started last weekend to the north and east of Flagstaff. It’s grown rapidly and is now over 14,000 acres but is about 40% contained. The actual fire is in a sparsely populated area off of Highway 89. But- the public health threat from wildland fires are from the smoke- not so much the fire. So far, the [...]