children

Autism & Folic Acid

By |2017-02-10T09:50:35-07:00March 26th, 2013|General|

A new study published in February by the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that taking folic acid may help reduce the number of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The study followed more than 85,000 children nationwide born between 2002 and 2008 and followed up with them in 2012. According to the study, [...]

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Promotoras Make Connections

By |2017-02-10T09:50:38-07:00March 11th, 2013|Prevention|

What’s a Promotora?  In simple terms, a Promotora is a community health worker who's a trusted member of the community and serves as a link between people and services to promote the overall health of family, friends and neighbors. Creating effective linkages between vulnerable populations and the health care system can be challenging in Arizona. Like many [...]

Helping Kids Recover

By |2017-02-10T09:50:39-07:00February 26th, 2013|Behavioral Health, Licensing|

Our Vision at the Arizona Department of Health Services is, ”Health and Wellness for all Arizonans.”  Part of our mission includes helping individuals with substance abuse issues achieve and maintain self-reliance and independence.  To get there, some individuals simply need occasional outpatient services.  Some need wrap-around, community or home-based services.  Others require more intensive treatment [...]

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Chalk Up Another Empower Award

By |2017-02-10T09:50:40-07:00February 21st, 2013|Licensing, Prevention|

This week the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs gave us the National Best Practice Award for our Empower Program.  As a refresher for those of you that aren’t familiar with Empower…  it’s a program we started in 2009 that focuses on increasing healthy eating and active living in our licensed child care facilities… [...]

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Hearing and Vision Screening

By |2014-04-09T15:18:33-07:00February 19th, 2013|General, Newborn Screening|

According to the CDC about 15% of school age kids have some hearing loss.  Children who are hard of hearing will find it harder to learn vocabulary, grammar, word order, and other parts of verbal communication.  Newborn hearing loss occurs in about 1 in 5,000 births- which is why it’s so important that AZ kids [...]

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Snack Time

By |2017-02-10T09:50:43-07:00February 12th, 2013|Prevention|

We’re one step closer to winning the battle of childhood obesity.  The USDA just released the new “Smart Snacks in School” proposal to provide national standards geared towards increasing healthy food options in vending machines and snack bars. As required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the USDA is striving to help improve [...]

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Selling Food

By |2017-02-10T09:50:46-07:00January 16th, 2013|Prevention|

Food marketing to children and teens is a major public health concern. Earlier this year, the Walt Disney Company announced it will no longer accept advertisements for junk food on its child-directed television, radio, and online sites.  Disney also updated its nutrition standards for foods that can be advertised to children. The food and beverage [...]

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‘Tis the Season to Be Vaccinated…

By |2017-02-10T09:50:48-07:00December 19th, 2012|Prevention|

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices released issued new recommendations to encourage pregnant women to get the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine (Tdap) during their pregnancy.  Since most kids get whooping cough from a close family member, vaccinating parents (and teens) is one of the best ways to prevent infants, especially those who are too young [...]

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New “Empower” Standards Here

By |2012-11-27T08:26:29-07:00November 27th, 2012|Licensing|

It is hard to believe we’re in the 3rd year of our successful Empower Program. As a refresher for those of you that aren’t familiar with Empower, it’s a program that focuses on increasing healthy eating and active living, along with helping to provide smoke-free environments, in licensed child care facilities… reaching over 200,000 children [...]

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

By |2012-10-26T08:33:54-07:00October 26th, 2012|General, Prevention|

Every day at least 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the U.S.  October is set aside to help bring awareness to the issue - across the country domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women aged 15-44. In Arizona last year, 108 individuals lost their lives to domestic violence; so [...]

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