The Amish cultural group is society that is guided by a rich and unique culture that is completely different from the mainstream American culture. They have an extensive history that begins when they separated themselves from the Swiss Mennonites following a series of ideologies that Jakob Ammann, their leader could not consent to (Sherman, 2014). Soon afterwards, they migrated from Europe, where they were initially located, to United States in the 1700’s. They developed a code of conduct known as the Ordnung that dictated how they behaved, how they talked and most importantly their dress code. The Ordnung centered its teachings on religious beliefs and separation from worldliness so as to grow closer to God. Due to this, the Amish are restricted to living a life that is free from the conveniences of civilization. This means that they are discouraged from having worldly possessions such as the telephones, televisions, central heating, air conditioning, refrigerators and indoor toilets. Moreover, they mostly practice farming but due to the continuously decreasing sizes of land, many Amish men have ventured into occupations such as masonry, carpentry and blacksmithing so as to make ends meet (Fuchs, et., 1990).
The Amish have no religious reservations against modern medicine and could consult medical doctors, drugs and hospitals. However, a majority of them find conventional medication too strong or foreign for their liking and therefore consider them a danger to their bodies. The Amish discourage themselves from the visiting hospitals outside their communities and therefore do not have insurance covers. Their lack of insurance covers could result in expensive medical bills and may even prevent the people from accessing necessary medical care they need from hospitals. Moreover, since the Amish do not take advantage of technology and modernization, their mode of transportation could hinder them from accessing health centers that are located outside their communities. The Amish community especially in New York have developed their own form of education system that only allow individuals in the community to only reach 8 th grade so as to prevent the children from abandoning their traditional cultural values. For this reason, the Amish have no physicians of their own and are forced to use the healthcare services of the non-Amish communities near them (Sherman, 2014). Finally, although there are clear state laws that encourage vaccination especially for newborns, less and less Amish children are able to receive vaccination against DPT, polio, measles and other inoculations (Sherman, 2014).
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Different cultures have different belief systems and therefore before they can be approached by any outsiders, these outsiders need to be familiar with how to interact with the community before they offer any services. In this case, the outsiders could be healthcare professionals who are participating in a medical camp or doing door to door vaccinations. When interacting with the Amish populace, it is important that the healthcare professionals know which Amish group an individual or family belongs to. Different Amish groups have different stands on accepting professional care and services(Armer & Radina, 2006).. Furthermore, the Amish persons are big on face to face interactions and relationships and therefore, the professionals should ensure that they are in physical contact with the patient and respect their beliefs values, customs and attitude so as to encourage cooperation.
The Amish culture values their traditional health practices and consult them first before they can consult a healthcare institution in the neighboring communities. Therefore, when healthcare professionals are dealing with the Amish people, they need to realize and accept parallel healthcare practices that utilize various home remedies as well as folk practitioners and ensure that they tailor they treatment with this in mind (Armer & Radina, 2006). Another consideration that they should take into account is to avoid by all means threatening to take or taking legal action so as to persuade a family to accept heroic medical care for a member within the family. The Amish have a strong belief that death is part of the God’s plan for their lives and that they are only on earth for a temporary period of time (Kraybill,1994). Lastly, the healthcare professionals when planning for programs and services aimed at the Amish people, they should consult their representatives or their bishops so as to allow to remove the bottlenecks and challenges that could occur during implementation.
Amish cultural healthcare beliefs and mine are quite different in almost every aspect. First, I believe that vaccinations are critical so as to protect children as well as people from contracting serious diseases that could otherwise be prevented. Moreover, I believe that modern form of medicine should take first priority as it is a result of years of research and tests and has been able to treat thousands of diseases that were initially a menace to the society.
References
Sherman, C. B. (2014). Respecting Cultural Differences: Alternatives for the Amish Community to Combat Health Care Costs. Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences , 13 (1).
Fuchs, J. A., Levinson, R. M., Stoddard, R. R., Mullet, M. E., & Jones, D. H. (1990). Health risk factors among the Amish: results of a survey. Health Education Quarterly , 17 (2), 197-211.
Kraybill, D. B., & Olshan, M. A. (Eds.). (1994). The Amish struggle with modernity . UPNE.
Armer, J. M., & Radina, M. E. (2006). Definition of health and health promotion behaviors among Midwestern old order Amish families. The Journal of Multicultural Nursing and Health, 12(3), 44-53.
