A Pima County Collaboration
May 2021 | Issue 6
Mobile vaccination sites underway: No appointment needed. Just show up!

On May 12th, Pfizer vaccine was approved for use in children age 12+. The Moderna and Janssen vaccines are only approved for those 18 and older.

Pfizer is available at the University of Arizona location, run by the Arizona Department of Health Services, as well as at Tucson Medical Center’s vaccination site at Morris K. Udall Park, and selected pharmacies. A parent/guardian must be present to consent for their minor child to get a vaccine. TMC's Udall Park location is open from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. on weekdays. Appointments are encouraged.

Registration at vaccine.tmcaz.com opened Wednesday, May 12, at 6 p.m. for appointments starting today.

The UA location is open until 5 p.m. daily and accepts walk-ups, although registration ahead of time is encouraged at https://www.azdhs.gov/covid19/vaccines/index.php#registration. To find a pharmacy near you offering the Pfizer vaccine, visit VaccineFinder.org.

Additionally, the Health Department is working with smaller vaccine sites, including mobile locations, to bring Pfizer into the community. Dates and locations will be updated at pima.gov/covid19vaccine.
Keep Masking Up

We are almost there, Pima County! We hear you, it’s been a year, everyone is pretty much “over” COVID-19, but we are SO CLOSE to keeping everyone safe. The more folks mask up, vaccinate and follow social distancing… the sooner we can get back to normal!

The face mask mandate will be lifted: When case counts fall below 10/100,000 for two consecutive weeks AND the vaccination rate is 75% or above.

The total population of the county, based on the latest U.S. Census estimates, available to be vaccinated after removing children under the age of 16, is 842,795.

We believe community immunity, or herd immunity, can be achieved if 75% of those 842,795 are vaccinated, or 632,096 people.

We are thrilled to be back in the classroom. Please continue doing everything you can to keep our community healthy and our children in school.

Celebrating School Nurses

May 12 was National School Nurse Day and we are celebrating school nurses all month! The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) chose the theme, “Championing the Whole Student” because this theme recognizes the integral role that school nurses play in bridging health and education to improve each child’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development, regardless of whether they are physically present in school or not. 

School nurses champion the whole student every day of the year. In May, we take special time to celebrate and recognize the contributions that school nurses are making to the health and learning of our nation’s 50 million children.

Thank your school nurse this month!
May 31 is World No Tobacco Day

Tobacco causes 8 million deaths every year. When evidence was released this year that smokers were more likely to develop severe disease with COVID-19 compared to non-smokers, it triggered millions of smokers to want to quit tobacco. Quitting can be challenging, especially with the added social and economic stress that have come as a result of the pandemic, but there are a lot of reasons to quit.

The benefits of quitting tobacco are almost immediate. 
  • After just 20 minutes of quitting smoking, your heart rate drops. 
  • Within 12 hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. 
  • Within 2-12 weeks, your circulation improves and lung function increases. 
  • Within 1-9 months, coughing and shortness of breath decrease. 
  • Within 5-15 years, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker. 
  • Within 10 years, your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smoker. 
  • Within 15 years, your risk of heart disease is that of a non-smoker. 

Learn more here and check out the Quitting Toolkit
Movement by the FDA to prohibit menthol and flavored cigars

On April 29th, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is committing to advancing two tobacco product standards to significantly reduce disease and death from using combusted tobacco products, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. The FDA is working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and ban all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars; the authority to adopt product standards is one of the most powerful tobacco regulatory tools Congress gave the agency. Learn more here.
Beat The Heat!

It’s warming up and it’s important to avoid heat-related illness. Three things to remember:
  1. Cool Down – stay indoors during the hottest part of the day, stay in shade and wear a broad rim hat to keep your body cool if you do go outside.
  2. Drink Up – water and lots of it. Drink more water than you usually do and drink before you feel thirst. Avoid drinks with lots of sugar (including alcohol).
  3. Plan Ahead – know the weather forecast, pace yourself, and know the signs of heat illness so you can act quickly if you or someone you’re with need intervention.
Learn more about the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

You are invited to a special screening of an impactful new film called Resilience. Resilience tells a compelling story of the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and a new movement to treat and prevent toxic stress.

The next screening and debriefing will be held virtually on Friday, May 21 from 12:00-2:00pm. Two additional viewing options are June 9th and 25th. Register here

This screening is being made available to a group of up to 50 community members. You may share with your colleagues, but those who sign up after we have reached capacity will be placed on a waiting list for future screenings. For all who RSVP, instructions will be sent the week of the film with details on watching the film and attending the debriefing via zoom.
CLICK HERE to see upcoming professional development offered by the Pima County School Superintendent's Office.
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