Amish

October 18, 2014 · by · in Uncategorized

amish broccoli salad

Amish Broccoli Salad

1 head broccoli, chopped 1 head cauliflower, chopped 1 cup mayonnaise… 1 cup sour cream 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 pound bacon, fried and crumbled 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Every time I hear the word, I think of pure and simple. The above dish looks anything but “Amish” in my mind. They are the ‘Plain people‘, whose handmade clothes and horse-drawn carriages are an iconic part of the landscape.

I saw an Amish team of builders repairing a local barn. There were Mennonites ( a close comparison) in a neighboring community where I grew up. How do you tell?

straw hatsThe sea of straw hats and prayer caps is the first sign. The well mannered children could be your next clue. The horse drawn buggy is a definite give away.

I was unaware of a clinic serving the Amish and their unique health issues.

Amish Clinic or the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg. For years, the site had been refining an unusual specialty: treating Amish and Mennonite children with rare genetic disorders. In the 25 years since its founding, the clinic has transformed pediatric health care for an underserved population, turned diseases from death sentences into treatable conditions, and broken ground in genetics that could one day lead to cures for diseases that afflict the wider population.

buggyThe barnlike building, raised in a day by Amish and Mennonite craftsmen, has parking spots for horses and buggies out front, and dairy cows graze out back. Inside, 63-year-old pediatrician D. Holmes Morton and his team practice cutting-edge medicine. Morton was a Children’s Hospital fellow in 1988 when he encountered a 6-year-old Amish boy with an undiagnosed disease that left him brain-damaged and unable to use his limbs. This case changed the doctor’s life. He has improved the lives of over 2500 children and countless family members in this rural PA community.

He discovered the “economic and academic goals of university hospitals” seemed to be “at odds with the care of children with interesting illnesses.” He concluded from his work with GA-1 and MSUD children that the best place to study and care for them was not in a laboratory or a teaching hospital but in the field, from a base in the area where they lived. Dr. Victor A. McKusick of Johns Hopkins University, the founding father of medical genetics, noted the Amish “keep excellent records, live in a restricted area and intermarry. It’s a geneticist’s dream.”

This is what community based care is all about. The US health system is moving back in this direction. It’s wonderful to see what can be done with an annual $2.6 mil budget. Even more touching is a physician who made a difference in people’s lives while contributing to the knowledge base for future doctors. The Clinic for Special Children  shows that health care can be reasonably priced, highly tailored to patients and conducted in simply managed circumstances.” If Sharrer is right, the clinic may be a model for the future of medicine.

The simple lifestyle sounds inviting- almost as much as this food ascribed to the Amish. I like Amish furniture- its obviously sound and well made. I like barns and they build them the old fashioned way. I remember traveling through PA and seeing a lot of “barn stars” or decorative designs on the ends of huge farm barns in the countryside. I somehow doubt these were Amish. I should find out. A trip, perhaps?? Or a donation?