Includes bibliographical references and index.

How do you know if you have succeeded? -- Act swiftly to protect the public's health -- Know how your house is built -- You must earn credibility -- Fighting HIV and AIDS: finding community leaders in public health / Peter D. Galbraith -- How do you know if a population is healthy? -- Be a guest in their home -- How do you keep the balls in the air? -- Strike while the iron is hot -- Respect the unwritten rules -- Always stay on the high road -- Have a code of ethics -- You must be ready for anything -- Don't end up in the recycling bin: communicating health information -- The press is not your enemy or your friend -- When you think you have seen it all, look again -- If the public doesn't understand it, it won't happen -- Listen to the children -- Anthrax and airplanes -- The stinky tubing saga -- Is there a doctor in the county? -- Regulating nursing homes: community health, individual health and public resources in an uneasy balance / Patricia A. Nolan --

Clorox and cooling towers -- Breaking down barriers to health: insuring the children -- Knowledge is power: preventing breast cancer deaths -- The great tobacco wars: part 1, changing our culture around tobacco use -- The great tobacco wars: part 2, how we nearly lost our footing -- Rabies: preventing public fatigue about a fatal illness -- Birdbaths and bug spray: West Nile virus -- Investigating cancer clusters: stepping out from behind the podium -- Timing is everything: tattooing and body piercing -- Calling in extra help: diarrhea on a dairy farm -- Restoring public confidence: strengthening the board of medical practice -- Let the data speak for itself -- The devil team -- The ten minute rule / Margaret A. Moran -- When people are angry with you (or your department), invite them in -- Preventing childhood lead poisoning: using a public health approach --

Sometimes the toughest battles are on the inside: assessing and managing environmental risks -- House calls in public health -- Remember the public in public health: distributing KI -- Mercury: you can still protect the public when there are things you can't control -- Data has no constituency, or does it? -- Be there -- Controversy is an opportunity to focus your message -- Find new ways to involve the public -- Don't just preach to the choir -- Walking the extra mile for children's health: door-to-door lead screening -- Pertussis: if you look, you will find it -- A vision for health planning -- Outcomes are the bottom line for public health -- We must always be prepared -- Make partnerships how you do business -- It will take all of us to keep the public healthy -- PR (public relations) is not the same as PH (public health) -- Consider every day an adventure -- Skate where the puck will be -- Two words: public health.