The Amish & Health

Roberta Devers, a midwife of 38 years who serves many Amish mothers in Lancaster County, wants Pennsylvania to let midwives give the measles vaccine. But that’s something state law does not currently allow. Devers made the request in an interview with 6abc Action News published yesterday. On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced the state has passed 1,000 measles cases this year. Lancaster County…

Adding another layer to the ongoing measles story, Amish parents in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania have spoken to local station CBS 21 about their families’ vaccination decisions. Unsurprisingly, they don’t all agree on how to approach the outbreak, and vaccination in general. Grace Miller knocked on doors and spoke with about 10 Amish residents in the heart of the community (Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse areas). About half…

In last week’s post on the measles situation, I noted how there has been a lot of coverage dancing around the idea that Amish communities are undergoing measles outbreaks — but with little-to-no direct confirmation that measles was present in Amish communities. This was not really the fault of the news outlets reporting on the matter. In a number of cases, local officials understandably declined…

Earlier today, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni confirmed that a 6-week-old Amish girl died due to measles. As Anne Garber of LNP | LancasterOnline notes, this is the first confirmed measles death in the US this year, and the first in Pennsylvania since 1991. Diamantoni told LNP | LancasterOnline that the girl was born with a genetic condition called Amish lethal microcephaly. The microcephaly…

Stories about measles in places where the Amish live keep popping up on my news feed, at a seemingly increasing pace. They’re showing up in different regions of the country – the East coast, Northeast, Midwest. Some stories have sections suggesting or leaving readers to draw the conclusion that an outbreak may be happening in or around “Amish Country”, but nothing really directly saying “the Amish…

An Amish-organized benefit auction in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania – now in its 14th year – raised $130,000 earlier this month for the DDC Clinic. The Corry Journal reported on the auction’s success. The photos here are of the event and via the DDC Clinic Facebook page. And there is a second one in Ohio coming soon (more on that below). Local Amish families in the Spartansburg…

We often hear and read about accidents in Amish settings – whether on the farm, in recreational settings like hunting, or on the road. The Lewistown Sentinel reports on how one community has tried to address a gap in emergency skills in rural Amish-heavy areas. Forty-two people turned out for a free Rural Response and Rescuer Training program at the Central Pennsylvania Clinic for Special…

Auctions To Support The DDC Clinic Are Happening in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania (August 7) and Middlefield, Ohio (August 28) Two benefit auctions this August support the DDC Clinic in Middlefield, Ohio – an Amish-founded nonprofit that has identified more rare genetic disorders than any clinic in the world. In the late 1990s, a group of Amish mothers in Geauga County, Ohio – whose special-needs children met…

The Virginia Department of Health doesn’t often have opinions about Amish auctions. This week it made an exception. In a health advisory issued Thursday, the department pointed to the Amish Parochial School Consignment Auction in Dillwyn, set for this Friday and Saturday, as an event people should skip if they’re not vaccinated against measles. That’s because Buckingham County is in the middle of a measles…

Amish mothers in Aroostook County, Maine are among those who now face increased risks following the closure of a local hospital’s maternity unit – one of 11 to shut down in the past decade in the state. It’s true that many Amish mothers do give birth at home, with the help of midwives – often Amish women themselves, but also often not. That doesn’t mean…