News

By David Bui

Dr. Graciela Silva, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing, will be the Center for Rural Health’s inaugural Courtesy, Adjunct, and Affiliate Appointments Program member. Her research background, expertise, and interest in working on U.S.-Mexico Border issues will be a beneficial addition to the Center’s mission. 

Dr. Silva first learned about the affiliate program shortly after joining the College of Nursing and thought of it as an opportunity to stay connected with public health research on the U.S. Mexico Border. “I was very excited to learn about this opportunity so I could continue collaborating with the College of Public Health,” she said.  

Dr. Silva completed her bachelors in Guadalajara, Mexico and also at the University of Arizona, studying Medical Technology. She went on to obtain her Master of Public Health at the University of Arizona and eventually her PhD in Epidemiology as well.  

As a doctoral student, Dr. Silva was awarded an NIH Minority Fellowship to research asthma and respiratory diseases, and she has also conducted post-doctoral research in sleep disorders. She has published numerous studies in these areas and has a depth of experience in working with longitudinal cohort data.

More recently, Dr. Silva worked on an evaluation of the Healthy Border 2010, a health promotion plan similar to Healthy People 2010, and focused primarily on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico Border. Having lived in Nogales, Arizona, border health issues are very important to Dr. Silva. “The issue of border health is dear to my heart, and I wish to make some sort of impact in reducing morbidity in this area,” she said.  

As a Center for Rural Health affiliate, Dr. Silva would like to continue her work in respiratory diseases, especially in drug-resistant tuberculosis along the Mexican border. She has a CDC fellowship in emerging infectious diseases and would like to find a way to integrate her research into her work with the Center for Rural Health.

Healthcare coverage for low-income and sick patients in Arizona is extremely limited. One of the few relatively affordable options for the uninsured is the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). PCIP coverage is intended to serve as bridge for coverage until 2014 when health insurance exchanges become operational and the regulation ensuring people can no longer be denied coverage based on their health status is in place.

More than 70,000 people are now covered by PCIP since the program started in 2010. PCIP enrollment has not been as successful as it could be due in large part due to the lack of a marketing campaign. Grassroots efforts in Arizona and other states have helped increase PCIP enrollment, but they have had only limited success.

The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, along with other healthcare partners, have produced commercials in English and Spanish to help generate public awareness of the program. The commercials are captivating, appeals to a wide audience and it has tremendous potential to grow PCIP enrollment at a faster pace.

These commercials are free for anyone to download and link to the YouTube versions.  Here is the link to a background webpage with downloadable and online versions of the commercials:

Pre-existing Conditional Insurance Plan Commercials and Program Information

• PCIP English Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6k-w5Kw9FM&feature=relmfu
• PCIP Spanish Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d5rnA_med0

We hope everyone – healthcare providers, community groups and the general public – will help promote the commercials so patients with pre-existing conditions will learn about PCIP and enroll in the program.

Please consider using the commercials in the following ways:

·        Distribute this memo to all of your contacts;

·        If you are a healthcare provider, show the commercials to patients in waiting areas in healthcare settings;

·        Add the link to the YouTube version of the commercials on your web pages, Facebook, Blogs, etc.;

·        Distribute the commercials through electronic media and encourage others to do the same;

·        and, make a donation to air the commercials on television.

If you would like to brand the commercial with a logo, additional message or run it as a loop with other video, please contact Jim Manley, film producer at Manley Films at 602-312-2988.

For additional information about the commercial and ways to donate to purchase air time, please contact Pete Wertheim at pwertheim@azhha.org or at the following phone numbers: (602) 445-4318 (office) or (602) 515-3847 (cell).

The Southwest Rural Policy Network (SWRPN) has been awarded a grant from the Rural Policy Action Partnership to initiate a project in Rural Digital Advocacy. The grant provides support to rural advocacy groups like the SWRPN to leverage technology and social media tools to strengthen their rural policy work and campaigns.

The SWRPN has proposed to build an online “Rural Southwest Digital Community Center” as a platform to foster collaborative efforts between community-based projects in the rural Southwest. The website will replace their current site, and serve as a repository of shared resources for the rural communities in New Mexico and Arizona.  

You can read more about the grant and the “Rural Southwest Digital Community Center” proposal here.

The Pima County Women’s Health Review is the result of a collaborative effort among three groups: The Pima County/Tucson Women’s Commission, The  University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health Center for Rural Health, and the University’s Southwest Institute  for Research on Women.

The report was developed from information gathered at five structured  discussion groups involving elderly women living in the Green Valley area, and economically disadvantaged women living in Tucson’s south side area. The  aim was to find out if targeted groups of women experienced equal access to health care services, and also to discover information about their issues and challenges.

The report finds that the lack of access to health care services is devastating  to both physical and mental health when a woman in Pima County cannot  afford to pay for health care for herself or her minor dependents. When a  person does not have the financial resources to pay for medical and/or  diagnostic care, medications, dental or visual care, these problems and  concerns do not go away. Instead, they usually worsen until serious problems  develop and the individual then is forced to seek care in the emergency room,  a far more expensive solution than if the problem had been dealt with  in the first place. The report also addresses the seriousness of issues that  face elderly women raising children. These are women whose struggle is  enormous. In their so called “golden years” they find themselves raising grand children who they have adopted or are fostering in order to keep their families together.

To help to resolve some of the issues identified in the report, recommendations are made for action by Pima  County Government, the Arizona Division of Aging and Adult Services, the Pima Council on Aging, the University of  Arizona, the Kinship and Adoption Resource and Education (KARE) Family Center, the Tribal nations of Pascua-Yaqui  and Tohono O-odham, and the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona. All recommendations are  delineated in the report.

Learn more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 30, 2012
Contact: Laura Oxley, ADHS Public Information: (602) 542-1094

In recognition of National Infant Immunization Week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation are honoring immunization advocates around the country with the first ever CDC Childhood Immunization Champion awards. These awards acknowledge people who have made immunization success possible in their community, including Leslie Maier from Tucson, Arizona.

Leslie lost her seventeen-year-old son, Chris, to bacterial meningitis in 2005. Chris Maier was a healthy, athletic high school senior and star soccer player when he suddenly became ill with meningitis and died within 18 hours of showing symptoms of illness. In the wake of her son’s death, Leslie joined the National Meningitis Associations’ (NMA) Moms on Meningitis program to teach other families about the dangers of meningococcal disease, and prevention methods, including immunization. She was elected as a NMA board member in 2006.

Leslie is an advocate for meningitis education, prevention and immunization. She was a driving force behind the addition of meningitis immunization requirement to Arizona’s school rules in 2008. Leslie collaborated with the Arizona Department of Health Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and The Arizona Partnership for Immunization to develop meningitis education materials for parents, schools and health care providers in Arizona. She continues to honor Chris’ memory by speaking at national, regional and local meetings and conferences.

WHAT: Arizona’s CDC Childhood Immunization Champion Award Winner
WHEN: Wednesday, May 2nd 3:30 pm
WHERE: Arizona Department of Health Services, 150 N 18th Ave, Phoenix
WHY: Educate Arizonans about the importance of immunizations
WHO: Leslie Maier & ADHS Immunization Staff

Later that evening, Leslie will be recognized at The Arizona Partnership for Immunization’s 16th Annual Big Shots for Arizona Award Ceremony at the Phoenix Country Club.

National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) is an annual observance to highlight the importance of protecting infants from vaccine-preventable diseases and to celebrate the achievements of immunization programs in promoting healthy communities throughout the United States. This year, during NIIW, communities across the U.S. celebrate the CDC Childhood Immunization Champions.

“Vaccine-preventable diseases still circulate in the United States and elsewhere. Without the diligent efforts of our champions, these potentially deadly diseases would be an even greater threat to our nation’s children,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Each of us has the potential to be a champion by protecting children’s health through immunization.”

(http://arizonasonoranewsservice.com) When people are injured or sick and need immediate medical attention, they usually find their way to the nearest physician or emergency hospital. In rural Arizona, that is easier said than done. Many people must travel 20 or more miles to reach the nearest doctor. This harsh reality has left those with low income and no transportation to struggle on their own.

Jill Bullock, the rural health services coordinator at The University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health in Tucson, said that rural communities are suffering the most because there is no access to healthcare for patients, coupled with a lack of funding that has led to workforce issues when recruiting professionals. Read more