Melissa Thomas PhD, Health Care and the Amish, Episode 3

Rotations

Wow, I took a hiatus…well not really. In this 3rd and final segment with Melissa Thomas, PhD we start with mindfulness. That’s apropos because the Amish deal with time in a different fashion than do the “English”. BTW, I am “mindfully” giving you an extra-long episode… Dr. Thomas also clearly lets us know that she can “unplug” with the Amish. She leaves the phone in the car. That’s an important concept in an age when more and more people seem to be incapable of actually being without their phone for more than 5 minutes. The other thing we discuss is assumptions. For the Amish, their concept of what is “healthy” may be a different concept from that of “English” society. Healthy for the Amish may mean “I can provide for my family.”. Amish patients may not even ask a question thinking a physician’s time is valuable and if there was something to say, the doctor would tell them. Well we find out that time is again a critical factor and Western needs for “getting it done” might not be the best medicine. It might be letting a patient have some time to sort out how disease impacts their lives. It’s also challenging to the average American that thinks that you can’t have free market health care to hear that the Amish will shop around for open heart surgery. They will ask questions to save money. Bottom line the Amish remind all of us that we have a fiduciary duty to our patients. They deserve to know what they are paying for what they are getting. Kudos to Pomerene Hospital. I loved working there 18 years ago in the ER. Had I lived closer to Millersburg I would still be working there. Slow TV. https://youtu.be/EXKATEeB64U (Look for the Queen of Norway in this compressed version) Joel Pomerene Hospital https://www.pomerenehospital.org/ The Behalt: The Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center https://behalt.com/ I’d be woefully wrong not to include a link to Leemans https://www.lehmans.com/ Life Through Their Lens http://appalcare.org/life-through-their-lens-photo-book/ Buy a copy, all proceeds go back into the research and programs to help the Amish Communities. Holmes County Ohio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_County,_Ohio Microfiche https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform I am going to keep the reggae through this. Its happy and it’s upbeat and the irony of it, given that I will never see an Amishman in dreads, is too rich to avoid…plus I haven’t had the time to go out to Danny’s place and asking him if he minds if I use his family’s singing…I’ll get there. [e-mail] But honestly, we seldom check it. Use the Social Media links… Catch us on twitter at @RotationsPcast Todd @MedicalCinema. Brian @Profplow and Nisarg @NisargBakshi You can also send comments to Todd at TR Fredricks on Facebook. Look for more Rotations Content at mediainmedicine.com/Rotations and on Soundcloud and iTunes at Rotations Podcast. Intro and Outro Music: Darb by the Tarante Groove Machine Courtesy of Artlist.io Produced by: Todd Fredricks DO and Brian Plow MFA Edited by: Todd Fredricks DO Cohost: Sarah Adkins PharmD…Pi was still there. Look for her on Facebook… Disclaimers: Todd Fredricks, DO Cut Clip: Nope Rotations is part of the Media in Medicine family of medical storytelling and is copyrighted. Rotations is made possible by Ohio University and by the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and Scripps College of Communications. The comments and ideas expressed on Rotations are those of the content creators alone and may not reflect official policy or the opinion of any agency of the Ohio University.