Planning Works

Get a grip! Plan the next two days as if you are going on a trip. What are you going to wear? What and where (in that order) are you going to eat? Walk everywhere you can. Communicate with family and friends. Get a night's good sleep. Find ways to feel good.

Manage Risk, Avoid Problems

Although medical science creates treatment for people with illness and injury, that treatment is never going to be as effective as preventing the problem when prevention is possible. And, the quality of life is improved by medical care only when the comparison is the state of illness and injury. There will always be need to care for people who are sick but caring for the sick is not the source for good health.

Caring Works

Health depends upon behavior and behavior is a function of social context. People behave differently when they think other people care, when the environment is clean and when there is respect and courtesy for everyone. This takes place in the family, the neighborhood, churches, schools, the workplace and the community. The basis for personal responsibility and lasting change exists in the fabric of the community.

Culture That

People want the results of healthy lifestyle but life keeps getting in the way. Even when people know what to do, they do not always know how to do it. It is reasonable to conclude that lifestyle is more a cultural issue than an intellectual challenge. It is good to think about it, better to do it and best when it is the thing to do.

Working At It

Reductions in smoking and increased use of seatbelts are examples of public health programs that have changed behavior to improve health and safety. Their success has been the result of complex and time consuming effort that included marketing campaigns, legal proceedings, taxation and other legislation and law enforcement ("click it or ticket"). It has not been pretty or easy but the results have made a difference.