Aaron and Sarah Y, who are both 38 years old, live with their
five children in a modest two-story house on a 30-acre farm in one
of the large Amish settlements in Oklahoma. After a fall from the
roof of a barn during a barn raising 1 month ago, Aaron injured his
hip and has been experiencing increasing pain that is hindering his
ability to perform the necessary chores around the farm. At the
clinic where many of the Amish go for health care, Sarah discusses
Aaron’s pain with one of the nurses who seems to have a good
understanding of the Amish culture. Sarah asks the nurse what she
thinks about Aaron visiting a man named Tobias Miller who “gives
treatments” for pain. He uses the traditional Amish “warm hands”
technique, also called brauche therapy, and is supposedly good at
curing chronic pain. However, Mr. Miller lives over 30 miles away
in another Amish settlement, and the long horse carriage ride would
be very painful for Aaron.
The clinic nurse understands that brauche is a folk healing
art practiced by the Amish for many years, having its origin in
Europe but also used in the early Pennsylvania German settlements
in the United States. It is a type of sympathy curing that may use
words, charms, and physical manipulations for treating a range of
animal and human maladies. Practitioners of brauche are believed to
be able to feel when a person has pain or another physical problem
because of their sensitive or warm hands. The practitioner can then
“take” the pain away from the client and transpose it into his own
body by using the warm hands' technique.
The physician at the clinic, after reviewing Aaron’s most
recent radiographs, believes that Aaron needs a total hip
replacement. Sarah and Aaron have no health insurance and cannot
see how they can pay for such an expensive surgery.
FYI QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT:
1. What type of open-ended questions can the nurse use to
elicit information from Sarah about what health and caring mean to
the Amish?
2. Why do the Amish tend to not carry health insurance?
3. What advice should the nurse give to Sarah about the use of
the folk healer?