In response to client and provider concerns, we have been working with Maricopa County to develop an improved eligibility process for clients participating in the Ryan White and AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. These programs are critical to providing care, services, and medication assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS who meet specific eligibility requirements, but the [...]
Our partnership building skills were highlighted at the United States Conference on AIDS on September 13, in Washington, D.C. Our Office of Disease Integration and Services, HIV Prevention Program, and Maricopa County Ryan White Part A Program were selected from a pool of a thousand applicants to facilitate a three hour workshop “Thrown Under the [...]
People with a serious mental illness have increased mortality that is largely from treatable medical conditions caused by risk factors like smoking, obesity, substance abuse, and not accessing primary and acute medical care. Research demonstrates that outcomes are improved for individuals with a serious mental illness when their whole health care, both physical and behavioral, [...]
A couple of weeks ago a healthcare worker who recently returned from Saudi Arabia was the first confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the U.S. This week the CDC and the Florida health department confirmed a 2nd US case. A person with MERS traveled Saudi Arabia - London - Boston - Atlanta - [...]
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve reflected about some of the innovative strategies that we’ve implemented with our behavioral health community partners over the last several years to improve the health status of folks with a serious mental illness. So far, I’ve covered integrated health homes and improvements to the crisis system. On the [...]
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll continue reflecting about some of the innovative strategies that we’ve implemented with our behavioral health community partners over the last several years to improve the health status of folks with a serious mental illness. Last week I wrote about the Integrated Health Homes initiative. Another success has been [...]
People with a serious mental illness die more than 30 years earlier than people without those challenges. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be reflecting about some of the innovative strategies that we’ve implemented with our behavioral health community partners over the last several years to improve the health status of folks with a serious [...]
Like a hotshot team, a rapid response by public health is essential to stopping the spread of measles in unvaccinated persons… and disease detectives in Maricopa County are currently working to squash a measles outbreak right now. Last week a person with measles visited a restaurant, church and airport in Arizona, exposing over a thousand [...]
During a major crisis, such as an influenza pandemic, we might need to take extraordinary steps to ensure that healthcare workers have the medicines and supplies on hand to treat patients. State, local, and federal agencies all participate in the Strategic National Stockpile program to help ensure that these critical resources are available during disaster situations. [...]
Arizona continues to score high marks on preparedness according to a CDC report released this week. We got a perfect score this year for biological laboratory testing, and we’ve kept our excellent performance measures for incident management, public information, and medical countermeasures. Our response times for activating our emergency operation center have been well above [...]
