Sheila Holmen always had a calling to be a nurse. "I knew that I wanted to be a nurse at a very young age," said Holmen, a psychiatric nurse at the Arizona State Hospital (ASH). "It's not something that I can really explain or understand, it is just something that's inside of you. I had [...]
In any other setting, you might not think these people would have much in common: Fran Altmaier has spent her nearly three decades with the state of Arizona helping babies and their families. Dr. Austin Echelmeier is a fan of Bill Nye the Science Guy and has a doctorate in chemistry. Susan Robinson is a [...]
Some may have a preconceived image of security guards at major facilities. Perhaps they picture a person in a uniform sitting inside a booth, checking credentials as people come and go, or walking down long corridors looking for suspicious activity. But for 10-year officer Greg Herrera, and the others charged with providing security at the [...]
The Arizona State Hospital (ASH) connects patients with more than highly trained professionals dedicated to providing quality care. It provides a bridge to the community that helps patients continue their wellness journey after they're discharged from the hospital. That's where psychiatric social workers like Gabriela Reyes come in. Reyes and other social workers not only [...]
When Mario Enciso moved to Arizona from San Diego in 2011, he could not have known that he'd see his future each day as he drove between his downtown Phoenix apartment and his master's level classes in music therapy at Arizona State University. "I chose to live downtown because it was central," he said. "On [...]
As a scientist in the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory, Sarah Brown found a calling she found more fulfilling than a private sector career. She and others in the ADHS chemical emergency response program are trained to deliver critical intelligence to medical providers and political decision-makers in the event of terrorism. "Hospitals need to know [...]
Dr. Kimi Cohen came to the Arizona State Hospital (ASH) in the mid-1990s to make sure her doctoral education in clinical psychology was well-rounded. After training in a community mental health center, an outpatient therapy clinic, and a family therapy clinic, she wanted to experience work in a psychiatric hospital. Twenty-six years later, she not [...]
For more than two years, Arizonans have associated ADHS most with the state’s COVID-19 response. That makes perfect sense, as the global pandemic has required an all-hands-on-deck approach. While that commitment is unchanged, we’d like to take time over the coming months, and starting with National Public Health Week, to highlight other things ADHS does [...]
Earlier this year, we took a huge first step in our efforts to transform the Arizona State Hospital (ASH) into a Center for Psychiatric Excellence by releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP), soliciting outside organizations interested in leasing space on the campus. The Center for Psychiatric Excellence will provide state of the art, comprehensive behavioral [...]
This week we celebrated National Public Health Week, highlighting the great work and accomplishments of the Arizona Department of Health Services and our public health and healthcare partners from across the state. We are concluding this week with the release of our Annual Report to highlight many of the great projects and programs our teams accomplished over the last fiscal year, [...]
