health – Whoopsie Piggle

Who are America’s working poor? The official definition is those Americans who spend at least 27 weeks a year in the labor force and yet have incomes below the federal poverty line.

I am one of those Americans.

I work all year as a freelance writer and about 35 weeks as an educator. And yet my adjusted gross income remains well below the federal poverty line, making my family eligible for Medicaid. I came of age during the Reagan Revolution when Republicans promised cutting regulations and taxes would increase corporate profits that would trickle down to the middle and lower classes.

That’s not what happened. As historian Heather Cox Richardson recently reported, “A February 2025 report from RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization…found that if the system in place before 1975 had stayed in place, the bottom 90% of Americans would have had almost $80 trillion more in 2023 than they did.”

Put another way, in reporting by the Washington Post, “Between 1930 and 1980, only the bottom 90% saw their incomes rise. After 1980, only the top 1% saw their incomes rise.” At the same time that wages for the working and middle classes stagnated, costs for basic living expenses, particularly housing and education (still one of the best ways to increase lifetime income) have exploded. But perhaps more than any other expense, nothing in the U.S. has increased like health care. In 1980, the nation spent $247 billion on health care. By 2024 it had jumped to $5.3 trillion.

The cost of insurance, deductibles, co-pays and treatment is so great that, should a family’s income move slightly over the poverty line and lose eligibility for Medicaid, something referred to as the “benefits cliff,” it can be economically devastating. While my two underage children and I are healthy in the general sense, because my daughter was born with Down syndrome, cataracts in both eyes and hypothyroidism, she has high medical needs. She had four eye surgeries her first year and weekly physical, occupational and speech therapies her first three years.

Each of her first 10 years, she went under general anesthesia for various procedures. We’ve long referred to ourselves as “frequent flyers” at Akron Children’s Hospital. Committed to doing all I could to set my daughter up for maximal success given her diagnoses, I could not work a traditional job after her birth. Instead, for 10 years, I proofread legal documents, a job I could do most anywhere, including waiting rooms. Even with that income, which was essential, our family remained well below the federal poverty line.

When my daughter’s appointments became less frequent, I transitioned back to teaching, yet my income continues to place us below the poverty line. I could not have met all my daughter’s needs without Medicaid. I have three college degrees and a resume full of experience, but because wages have remained stagnant while health care costs have skyrocketed, most full-time jobs would mean falling off the benefits cliff: we’d lose Medicaid for expensive health insurance with far less coverage that would result in a net reduction of my household income, and far less comprehensive medical care.

In an interview in 2024, Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he believes Medicaid and Medicare were mistakes and that Medicaid recipients should be required to work. But like so many statements coming from today’s Republicans, Ramaswamy’s is a fiction meant to mislead voters.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2024, 64% of “Medicaid covered adults (age 19-64) who do not receive benefits from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and are not also covered by Medicare” worked either full time (44%) or part time (20%). Those who didn’t work were caregivers, ill or disabled, attending school, retired or unable to find work.

The victim-blaming trope that the poor are poor because they’re lazy is something I’ve heard often but not observed.

It’s a myth.

I’ve worked for years in schools where most students’ households were below the federal poverty level. I’ve lived for decades in a neighborhood that is economically diverse. I’ve witnessed no more reticence to work in poor communities than I have in rich ones. Most people are doing all that they can to take care of their families as best they know how.

America spends far more on health care than any other nation. And yet we are less healthy and have lower life expectancies than any other rich country. The problem isn’t the poor, working or not. The problem is our systems.

This column was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, February 15, 2026.

Principal Michele Angelo in front of one of several stained glass walls in Bridges Learning Center.

When I recently parked across the street from Bridges Learning Center, I was shocked at how many times I’ve driven by the building without noticing it. A pleasant combination of Brutalist and Prairie styles of architecture, Bridges is set further back on Thornton Street than its neighbor, Akron’s Fire Station No. 4. The school building is a hidden gem, and what occurs inside its walls is even more valuable. We are fortunate in the United States that federal law guarantees all states must provide all students with a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). This has not always been the case and is the result of hard-won civil rights campaigns waged in the second half of the last century. (For more on that history, read “Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.”)

Mandated to educate all children, what do public school districts do when a child’s behavior limits or prevents them, and often their classmates, from learning? Ideally, they follow clearly defined steps of positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS) to help students learn to regulate their emotions. As a tutor in two elementary buildings in Akron schools over three years, I have witnessed faculty, administrators and staff patiently assist students with PBIS.

But what if a child does not adequately respond to these intervention supports? Smaller districts might pay for the student to be placed outside the district at specialized schools. But Akron, like many larger districts, has its own dedicated facility. Bridges Learning Center was created in 2006 when programs for elementary and middle school students merged. A decade later, high school classes were added and, since 2019, the former Reidinger Middle School has been home to Bridges Learning Center.

One might imagine the school having a carceral environment, but quite the opposite is true – every corner of the building is calm, orderly and inviting. It reflects the school’s mission to “provide social, behavioral, and academic skills through high quality teaching…by creating a positive, nurturing and supportive environment.” Michele Angelo, the school’s principal, repeatedly used the words “restorative” and “family” or “team” approach to describe what occurs in the school. Students in the United States with special education needs receive Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) – protocols developed by educators, specialists and the student’s guardians as a team – that outline specific, individual services and accommodations needed. All students at Bridges were placed on IEPs in their home schools, and it was their IEP teams at their home schools that determined a placement at Bridges was appropriate.

The range of student abilities at Bridges includes children with multiple physical and cognitive disabilities, children who are non-verbal and children with various learning disabilities. For a few students, placement at Bridges is determined to be the best location for the duration of their education. But the goal for most of the 102 students currently at Bridges (the majority of whom are in grades 3 to 12) is to acquire the necessary emotional regulation needed to return to their home schools.

How do the faculty and staff at Bridges accomplish this goal? Each classroom is staffed with a teacher, an intervention specialist (special education teacher) and an aide. Also, three full-time, floating educational assistants are available to go to any room where extra assistance is needed. And Red Oak Behavioral Health, which partners with schools throughout the district, has two counselors and three case managers at Bridges full time.

Music therapist Edie Steiner's board at Bridges Learning Center in Akron. — Music therapist Edie Steiner’s board at Bridges Learning Center.

But wait, there’s more. Art therapist Shenan May and music therapist Edie Steiner work with students both one-on-one and in group settings. In addition to their education and experience in art and music therapies, they have been trained in dialectical behavior therapy-informed (DBT) practices. According to the Cleveland Clinic’s website, DBT “focuses on helping people accept the reality of their lives and their behaviors, as well as helping them learn to change their lives, including their unhelpful behaviors.” Ms. Steiner’s classroom is filled with instruments, including several electric guitars and two drum sets – much of it purchased with grant funding. I could devote an entire column to the benefits of these therapies, but a quick look at Ms. Steiner’s board for her classes shows the seamless integration of music and behavioral development students experience in her class.

Behind Bridges are expansive fields the school integrates into its student experience. Second grade teacher, Kim Zeffer, obtained funding from Lowe’s to install several raised planting beds, gardening equipment, benches and more. One of the Red Oak therapists received grant money to create a remote-control race car team. As any parent knows, most kids love RC cars. Participation on the RC team helps students “focus on teamwork, problem-solving, and self-regulation during races.”

And Bridges also helps its students prepare for life after they leave. High school students, some of whom are reintegrating after time in juvenile detention or residential placement for mental health issues, not only work on academics and emotional regulation, but also with other governmental service providers such as Summit DD, Ohio Department Job and Family Services and High School Job Training that come to the building to help with job training and placement.

Bridges’s students are members of our community. The team approach at Bridges is an effective way to assist these students to succeed not only when they return to their home schools, but throughout their lives. What happens inside Bridges helps not only its students, it’s a benefit to us all.

This was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, October 12, 2025.