The purpose of this Community Health Profile is to provide a factual basis for informing community decision-­‐making regarding health and quality of life issues in Mohave County. It is one part of an overall initiative to identify, prioritize, and address health needs to ultimately improve health and quality of life in Mohave County.

Public health preparedness has been both an opportunity and a challenge for our department. These challenges have created a lot of extra work for public health professionals but they have also created a better system. It has given public health the opportunity to educate the public about our role in protection every day and during emergencies.

From 2010 to early 2013, under the leadership of the Pima County Health Department, organizations and community members engaged in a comprehensive community health assessment and improvement planning process. The goal of this intensive, community-driven process was to examine the current health needs of Pima County residents and determine how to best address them.

This report is a summary of the Pima County Community Health Assessment that was conducted in 2011. As facilitator, the Pima County Health Department examined existing data describing the community, surveyed residents and stakeholders about their perceptions of the health status of Pima County, and presented these findings to the Community Health Assessment Taskforce. The community members who comprised the taskforce evaluated the information and identified five priorities that would make a significant positive impact on the health status of Pima County residents.

Assessing and addressing the public’s changing needs is a challenging task. The Health Department uses a variety of measures to evaluate program accomplishments while holding itself accountable to the taxpayers. The economic challenges faced by the County and its residents require the Department to rely more on quality improvement approaches to maximize the limited resources. Here are some highlights of the Health Department’s achievements in efficiently providing needed public health services.

From 2010 to early 2013, under the leadership of the Pima County Health Department, organizations and community members engaged in a comprehensive community health assessment and improvement planning process. The goal of this intensive, community-driven process was to examine the current health needs of Pima County residents and determine how to best address them. This document is an update of the Healthy Pima Initiative.

The Arizona Department of Health Services offers a vast array of programs that benefit every state resident and visitor. I like to remind people that we are with you from birth to death. In fact, we provide certificates for both events through our Office of Vital Records. If you drink the water, eat the food, require hospital or nursing home care or use a child care facility, the Arizona Department of Health Services has touched your life in some important way. Assuring the quality of our food and water, setting standards for hospitals and nursing home and child care, maintaining the State’s vital records, screening newborns for genetic diseases, protecting the public from disease and overseeing the state’s mental health system and Arizona State Hospital are just some of the duties of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

On July 1, 2007 the Apache County Public Health Services District (ACPHSD) was formed. The annual report is an opportunity for the Director to formally report the progress and challenges of the past year, as well as to make recommendations for the future. It is my hope that this report will provide some insight into the valuable services provided by the Apache County Public Health Services District employees as well as outline how the District has enhanced public health services.