Authors: Ruth Price
Lancaster Hearts (Out of Darkness - Amish Connections (An Amish of Lancaster County Saga)) (12 page)
Dear God, thank you, and please, if there is one more thing I can beg, help my brother Samuel find this same peace and purpose in the service of his dreams and your will. Amen.
Judith's gaze fell upon the end-table, the thin, green cover of her daed's favorite volume of poems resting upon it. Outside, gentle breeze whispered through the corn, the fingers of it passing through the window, making the lantern flicker and ruffling Judith's hair. In that moment, Judith knew that her daed saw her and that he was pleased.
One truly wonderful thing about writing is the fascinating things you learn as a part of researching a book. When I first had the idea for Judith’s story, I knew that she had a calling to study medicine, and she would have to reconcile that with her desire to remain Amish. I had a difficult time myself figuring out how she would merge these two desires. This tension between career and family is something that all women face to varying degrees, and I wanted to do the difficulty of Judith’s position justice in the novella.
I toyed with the notion of ultimately having Judith leave the community and return as a doctor or perhaps studying nursing, though neither of these things seemed to exactly suit what Judith was called by God to do. So it was with great delight that I stumbled across some articles then on Amish EMTs. EMT training fits beautifully with Amish values of community, practicality, and the respect Amish people have for modern medicine. It also suits Judith’s character perfectly, and allows her to work within her community to create a bridge between the Englischer and Amish world as well as come to terms with the death of her father by using the grief she felt as motivation to help save lives.
For this novel to make sense, I have made some clear assumptions.
- I’m assuming that Judith belongs to a rather insular Old Amish order, which is why in spite of her interest in the subject, she hasn’t heard anything yet about Amish EMTs or CPR training, which is fairly common nowadays in Amish communities. This is especially true for Judith who is a woman and thus (in my opinion) would be less likely to be informed of this option than a boy her age.
- I’m assuming that in the early 2000’s, which is when Judith’s daed would have died that phone booths specifically for emergency use by the Amish had not yet been constructed in her area.
If you are interested in learning more about Amish and Mennonite EMTs, here is a good introductory article on the subject.
Many Lessons Can Be Learned from the Amish Community
How EMS functions in a ‘simple’ way of life
http://www.jems.com/article/patient-care/amish-ems-offers-lessons-prehospital-car
enjoy the next novella in the series
Or enjoy all three novellas at once in
Out of Darkness Megabook 2
Learn More about Abram and Sofia’s story in the serialized
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Rachel Stoltzfus
Daisy Fields
Faith and Love Series
The Amish of Elkhart Series
The Amish of Elkhart Collection