Founder, Healthy Economy LLC
Linda Riddell has developed a game that gives people first-hand experience of the brain changes that occur to people living in poverty. After playing, people understand poverty in an entirely different way. In addition to leading the game for groups, she presents the research on how poverty affects the brain and how our expectations clash with what is feasible for a person besieged by poverty. This could be expectations from teachers, medical providers, social workers, legislators or anyone who works directly or indirectly with people living in poverty.
The goal is to have people take a more effective, compassionate approach in their day-to-day work with people in poverty. Linda will partner with various industry experts, such as people who train teachers, so that the session addresses how the players can adjust their classrooms (for example) to make them more effective for children from low-income homes.
Approximately 100 people have played the game so fa,r and it has been very well received.
Challenge question: There are many different professions that work directly with people and children in poverty – educators, medical providers, legislators, social workers. How can Linda prioritize the potential markets?
Linda Riddell is an epidemiologist specializing in poverty and health. She has a master’s degree in health policy and management from the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine and a bachelor’s degree in English (University of Cincinnati). Her clients range from state governments to private institutes, national insurers to start-up companies. She helps clients to measure the impact of programs on health status. In short, she counts sick people.
She has long had an interest in the brain and how environment and experience shape it. This interest plus her work in epidemiology came together to inspire the game, Gettin' By.