1. The Amish T The Amish Brandi Smith Jenna Applebach Taylor Sand
Ashley Couturier
Nicole Prins

2. What is Amish Health to You?

3. Demo Data 251,000 live in the United States and Canada
There are 456 settlements across the United States and Canada
13,330 live in Michigan
80 families live in Mecosta County

4. Cultural Descriptors Community based Minimal technology
Strong work ethic
Minimal education requirements
Strong dedication to the church
Men vs. Women’s job roles
Holistic healing/ “God’s will”
Natural healing remedies

5. Bias Possibilities Viewed as different and subordinate
Inconveniences produced
Inbreeding
Incompetence
Uncleanly
Byers, Crider, and Biggers performed an experiment by interviewing many people who took part in claping (clay-ping), which is a term used to describe harassment, intimidation, and vandalism against Amish (1999 p.79). Many of the people interviewed stated that they took part in claping because they grew up with peers as well as relatives believing and reinforcing negative perceptions of the Amish (p.83). Many of these being that they are different, they leave horse manure around town, their children are not vaccinated, and they smell different. Children often only attend school until the Eight grade. High School or further education is refused by parents due to the fear that non-Amish children will alter their children’s thinking (Weyer, Hustey, Rathbun, Armstrong, Ronyak, & Savrin, 2003, p.142). This leads to the bias of incompetence in the non- Amish communities.

6. Health Risk Factors Incest (Genetic diseases) Difficult Pregnancies
Farming accidents
Heat stroke
Dental issues
Diseases (not vaccinated)
Most of the people in the Amish community do not seek medical assistance unless it is a life or death situation. This also goes for seeing a dentist for routine check ups. It is not within their religion to practice using birth control. This poses many concerns because the woman are having several children and even late into their lives. Having children at an older age increases your risks for pregnancy difficulties and even loss of pregnancy. With a decrease in the amount of those practicing the Amish lifestyle it is often hard to find a partner with the same beliefs so it is common to find families that have married within their own families. With cases like these we see a higher risk of genetic diseases or abnormalities. Although these are not the social norms that we are used we are to treat them the same way you would treat a non Amish practicing family when and if we do see them in the health care setting. Although getting their children vaccinated is not something that they believe in it is still beneficial to educate them on the advantages of vaccines. Amish are known to be hard workers, everything that they own they work for on their land. This includes their food, building supplies, and clothing. Working hard calls for long hours and often you will find Amish with heat stroke from the hot summer days. Like all people the Amish community is a risk for many health problems.

7. Environmental/Community Factors
Conservative rural values
Preference for natural antidotes
Lack of information
Awkwardness in high tech settings
Difficulties accessing healthcare
Willingness to suffer & lean on will of God

8. Environmental/Community Factors
Cost
Influence of Bishop
Lack of technology based prenatal checkups
Restricted medication use
Lack of disease prevention
causing small endemics

9. Health Promotion Theory

10. Educational Tool
Amish are a very diverse society with many traditions and always live life in a simple manner with family and religion at the base. The Amish community believes that they are responsible for young, elderly and the sick (Weyer, Hustey, Rathbun, Armstrong, Ronyak, & Savrin, 2003 p. 142). Amish community members do not practice divorce or birth control therefore large families arise (Weyer, Hustey, Rathbun, Armstrong, Ronyak, & Savrin, 2003p. 142). “Amish children are taught the motto JOY is school. J stands for Jesus who comes first, O is for others that are second, and Y stands for you that should come last (Weyer, Hustey, Rathbun, Armstrong, Ronyak, & Savrin, 2003 p. 141).” An example of their simple living is electricity not being permitted. However Weyer, Hustey, Rathbun, Armstrong, Ronyak, & Savrin, (2003) state that some compromises can be made such as if an ill family member needs to use electricity; permission must first be given from the elders (p. 141).

11. Healthy People 2020
Attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death.
Achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups.
Create social and physical environments that promote good health for all.
Promote quality of life, health development, and healthy behavior across all life stages.
The US public health services has revised the healthy people 2010, adding two more health forward goals. These goals are said to be able to target and influence all individuals health habits and health determinants of different cultures. We have found that although this this the perceived outcome of these goals, relating it to the Amish has been quite difficult. “Attaining high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death (Maville & Huerta, 2013, p. 9)” may not be attained as easily for the Amish as others living in our more modern world. The Amish culture does not believe in seeing doctors or dentists regularly making it difficult for them to participate in preventative care. Without preventative care almost all of these goals are out of reach for the Amish community, except promoting their quality of life. As nurses it is our role, along with other health care providers to do our best to promote the best health when we do see people of the Amish community. Traveling doctors that do see the Amish community are also promoting health by checking on them and showing them the best ways maintain a healthy lifestyle.

12. References
Amherst (n.d.) [Amish Men].
Berg, N. (2012, August 1). Why the Amish Population is Exploding. The Atlantic CityLab. population-bubble/2795/.
Gillum, D. R., Staffileno, B. A., Schwartz, K. S., Coke, L., Fogg, L., & Reiling, D. Cardiovascular Disease in the Amish: An Exploratory Study of Knowledge, Beliefs, and Health Care Practices. Holistic Nursing Practice, 25(6). doi: /HNP.0b013e318232c58d.
Greksa, L.P., & Korbin, J.E. (n.d.) Overview of Culture Amish.
IBRC Number of Amish Adherants by State, [Photograph].
Maville, J. A., & Huerta, C. G. (2013). Health promotion in nursing (3rd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar, Cengage Learning.
Kraybill, D. B., Nolt, S. M., & Johnson-Weiner, K. (n.d.). Amish Studies. Amish Studies. fhttp://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Index.asp.
Mecosta County Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. (n.d.). Stanwood Area Amish Shops.
Michigan Amish. (n.d.). Amish America.

13. References Continued
Seewer, J., ( 2013, August 23). [Photograph Bible and Stethoscope]. Sharpnack, P. A., Quinn-Griffin, M. T., Benders, A. M., & Fitzpatrick, J. J. Spiritual and Alternative Healthcare Practices of the Amish. Holistic Nursing Practice, 24(2). doi: /HNP.0b013e3181d39ade. Szwarc, S., ( 2008, September 10). [ Photograph Amish Family on Buggy]. from-amish.html. Things You Never See an Amish Person do (n.d.). The Chive. Way Back Woman. n.d. [Photograph of Amish Buggy]. Byers, B., Crider, B. W., & Biggers, G. K. (1999). Bias Crime Motivation A Study of Hate Crime and Offender Neutralization Techniques Used Against the Amish. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 15(1), Retreived from: Weyer, S. M., Hustey, V. R., Rathbun, L., Armstrong, V. L., Anna, S. R., Ronyak, J., & Savrin, C. (2003). A look into the Amish culture: what should we learn?. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 14(2), Retrieved from: