VOLUME 6 ISSUE 20
Ray Charnley, World War II naval aviator.
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The ‘silent killer’
Why do cuts to Medicaid matter for Americans over 65?
Pg B1 MAY 16 - 22, 2025
Two University of Massachusetts Boston experts on aging explain why lives are at stake. ByJane Tavares and Marc Cohen
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Renee and Evan Brandies recently attended an Association of Aquatic Professionals event to spread the word about their Harlow’s Helping Hands nonprofit. Their son, Harlow, was the victim of accidental drowning. [Photos courtesy Renee Brandies]
This Ocala couple became advocates for water safety awareness after losing their son to an accidental drowning. By Jamie Berube jamie@ocalagazette.com
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hen Renee Brandies and her husband Evan pulled in to pick up her car from a tire shop last summer, she got a phone call that would shatter their world forever. It was her mother, Paula Kirkland, urging them to rush to AdventHealth Ocala Hospital with no explanation. In a panic, they arrived to find their 18-month-old son, Harlow, fighting for his life after falling into the family’s swimming pool. “We get to the hospital and there’s probably 10 doctors and nurses just doing chest compressions, just trying to get his heart back and get him breathing. Once they did get him a little more stable, we were transferred to Shands,” Renee Brandies said. According to Renee, Harlow had an accidental drowning. He fought for his life for 38 days before he passed away on July 28, 2024. Inspired by Harlow’s tragic drowning, Renee and Evan founded a nonprofit,
Harlow’s Helping Hands, to honor his legacy by providing pool safety resources, swim lessons and CPR training to protect and empower families.
THE UNTHINKABLE
It was at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville that Kirkland explained what had happened that day. In the matter of a moment, a lively poolside game turned tragic when Harlow fell into the water. Surrounded by his big brother, E.J., and E.J.’s football teammates, ages 10 to 13, Harlow had eagerly joined in on a Nerf gun battle and football toss before the unthinkable happened. The boys were playing by the pool when E.J. noticed Harlow in distress after another boy called out his name. E.J. jumped into the pool to pull Harlow out of the water. “My mom, during that moment, was outside but had walked inside to change laundry over and she heard a horrific scream and knew it wasn’t good. She ran out and immediately started chest compressions,” she continued.
While Kirkland performed chest compressions, the boys and neighbors sprang into action with one sprinting to a nearby law enforcement officer’s home and another struggling to relay the address to a 911 dispatcher. “The boys knew most of the address, but they couldn’t remember the full address, so it took a minute for them to really get there. But during that time, my neighbors were over, everyone was trying to do CPR,” Renee said. Despite their heroic efforts, the lack of oxygen left Harlow with severe brain damage. At Shands Hospital, medical teams battled for 24 hours to stabilize him, but the damage was irreversible. Janice Ferguson, Evan Brandies’ mother, arrived that day at the family’s home after police were on the scene. “You just go into survival mode because you’re trying really hard not to think about it,” Ferguson said. Living less than a mile from Evan and Renee, her immediate concern was for
epublicans in Congress intend to cut about US$880 billion in federal health care spending. One of their primary targets is Medicaid. That government program covers 82 million Americans with health insurance. Most of the people enrolled in the program are low income, have disabilities, or both. Medicaid, jointly funded by the federal government and the states, is also the biggest funder in the U.S. of long-term care services, whether they are delivered in the patient’s home, another location where they spend part of their day or a nursing home. That makes it particularly important for older adults and those with disabilities. All states must meet the basic federal guidelines for Medicaid coverage. But 41 states have opted to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act provision that expanded eligibility to cover more people under the program. We are gerontology researchers who study health and financial wellbeing in later life. We’ve been analyzing what the potential impacts of Medicaid cuts might be. While the debate about how to reduce the budget focuses largely on dollars and cents, we believe that cutting federal spending on Medicaid would harm the health and well-being of millions of Americans by reducing their access to care. In our view, it’s also likely that any savings achieved in the short term would be smaller than the long-term increase in health care costs born by the federal government, the states and patients—including for many Americans who are 65 and older.
WEAK TRACK RECORD
Wary of backlash from their constituents, Republicans have agreed on a strategy that would largely cut Medicaid spending in a roundabout way. Previous efforts by the GOP in some states, such as imposing work requirements for some people to get Medicaid benefits, have not greatly reduced costs. That’s largely because there are relatively few people enrolled in the Medicaid
See The ‘silent killer’, page A6
See Medicaid page A7
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