This week is Men’s Health Week - the worldwide event happens every year before Father’s Day calling attention to the issues that affect men’s health. Many groups take the opportunity to talk about men’s health – we should be thinking about our health every week. The top health issues that impact men’s health are also [...]
A new CDC report released this week gave a status update on the national Winnable Battle to reduce hospital associated infections. Not all medical procedures carry the same risk of infection, so the report uses something called a standardized infection ratio to compare infection rates among hospitals. It’s a complicated statistic, but basically, it divides [...]
Yesterday afternoon's weekly flu report shows that influenza is still circulating widely in AZ... with a steep increase in the last couple of weeks. The strain that’s circulating is mostly Type A - H3N2 which can be more severe than the 2009 H1N1, especially for seniors. There are plenty of B strains going around too. But you can still find [...]
Back in 2006 we funded a web based "hub and spoke" telemedicine system with tobacco tax funds to link up small rural and undeserved hospitals with a Primary Stroke Center (Mayo Clinic Arizona) which can give expert advice on how to best treat acute stroke patients at the rural hospitals (also called spoke hospitals). We’re [...]
Several prevention-related health services will be covered without cost sharing in new health plans as of a couple of weeks ago as a result of the Affordable Care Act. The changes are designed to help lower costs and outcomes for a variety of preventative women’s services. Previously, some insurance companies didn't cover some of the [...]
The use of successful antiretroviral medicines in the 1990s was a game changer for HIV by reducing deaths. Now, it’s changing the game again. While the new med’s were originally developed to keep people living with HIV/AIDS healthier and alive longer- the new med’s are good enough to be used as a prevention method. Using [...]
You’ve probably read or heard about my experience with my colonoscopy when I turned 50. For years doctors have recommended getting a colonoscopy when you turn 50. If doctors see something unusual like a polyp, they can remove it while they are there - which is what happened to me. But they really didn’t have [...]
Our prevention and county health folks will be spending more time working to help counties, schools, and communities to adopt policies that will reduce obesity, chronic disease and disparities. One area of focus will be Border Health where the objectives include reducing motor vehicle accidents and substance abuse. There will also be more going on [...]
Chronic disease often calls up bad images for people because it means living with the disease for a long time. But… there was a time when cancer wasn’t chronic disease because people got sick and died pretty quickly. The same goes for HIV. When it was first discovered in the early 80s people quickly transitioned [...]
The death of a child is a tragedy not only for their family, but also for our communities- and finding ways to save kids' lives is a sentinel public health goal. But- as is always the case- finding solutions and implementing effective public health interventions requires solid data collection and analysis. That’s where the annual [...]
