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New DHW bureau enhances appropriate care and family support in Idaho’s foster care system
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) has introduced a new Continuum of Care Bureau to enhance support for youth and families in the state’s foster care system. Its goal is to ensure that congregate care placements are appropriate while optimizing the use of funding streams for effective interventions.Led by Bureau Chief Stacy Corbett, the bureau is part of the Division of Youth Safety and Permanency and is divided into several focused units, each serving a unique role in supporting
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Healthcare systems in rural areas like Idaho face unique challenges. More than 88 percent of Idaho is classified as rural. DHW’s Bureau of Rural health and Primary Care is working to confront those challenges in several ways.
More than 98 percent of Idaho faces a
Tamara Prisock, administrator for the Division of Licensing and Certification (L&C) and a member of the department’s senior leadership team, is retiring today. She has worked for the department for 37 years in various roles, and for the last 10 years in her current position
Family caregivers represent more than one in five Americans, and that number continues to grow as the population increases and more people are diagnosed with debilitating disorders that require daily care. In Idaho, there are more than 300,000 caregivers, with 70 percent also
Friday marks a day off for government workers to observe an important holiday: Veterans Day.
Nov. 11 was formerly called Armistice Day for the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918. The federal legal holiday was observed on the fourth Monday in October in
RSV season has been officially declared in Idaho with virus activity increasing over the past two weeks across the state. There is no vaccine to protect against infection with RSV, but you can take action to help prevent spread. Many of the actions we recommended to prevent
It can be a scary thing to have a baby, even in the best of situations.
When situations are not the best, it can be downright terrifying.
In my best world, all babies would be born to parents who can care for them. While I would hope that no parent feels the need to give up
Each fall as the weather cools, the Department of Health and Welfare gets questions from anglers eager to cast lines in lakes or rivers where water quality warnings were made.
Water quality warnings are often because of detection of harmful cyanobacterial blooms
The weather in Idaho has officially tipped toward fall and winter, with cooler (even freezing!) temperatures, and more rain and snow. That means we’ll all be spending more time inside, and viruses like those that cause COVID-19 and the flu will become more widespread
There is no known safe level of lead in the human body. Children are especially at risk because their bodies absorb more lead than adults, and their nervous systems, including their brains, are not fully developed.
Lead is a naturally occurring metal, and
Preventing suicides and helping Idahoans who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis is an important priority for the Department of Health and Welfare. It’s so important that it’s one of four goals in our strategic plan. Goal 3 is to help Idahoans become as healthy and self-
In the last 30 days, Idaho has experienced eight earthquakes with a magnitude 2.5 or greater, all of them clustered in the Sawtooth or Salmon River mountains of central Idaho—and all of them relatively benign.
Most of central Idaho’s recent seismic activity