House Calls and Hitching Posts

DESCRIPTION:

Medical technology meets rural values of simplicity, home health remedies, and unwavering faith in divine providence when a country-boy-turned-country-doctor returns to his roots. House Calls and Hitching Posts is a sometimes humorous and often intimate account of Dr. Elton Lehman's 36 years practicing medicine among the Amish of Ohio, for which he was named Country Doctor of the Year.

This is the story of a beloved doctor working among a respected people and the insights they exchanged, told by someone who knows both firsthand.

Hoover's anecdotal style takes readers on house calls and into the private moments between doctors and patients. Joe brings his dismembered fingers to the office in a coffee can filled with kerosene. Katie delivers a boy for the doctor's first home-birth. And three-year-old Davy rallies to overcome a life-threatening illness at birth, only to be crushed under a tractor wheel.

Hoover captures in sometimes local vernacular the joys and dilemmas of a family practitioner among a rural and predominantly-Amish community. Includes many photographs from Dr. Lehman's distinguished career.

A country-boy-turned-country-doctor goes on house calls among the Amish of eastern Ohio in this warm collection of true-life tales.

Alert to his patients' preferences to have their babies born close to home, and their illnesses and injuries treated in a home-like atmosphere, Dr. Elton Lehman also created a treatment and birthing center in the hills of Wayne County, Ohio.

From these years of medical technology meeting rural values come these unforgettable stories:

    * Joe brings his dismembered fingers to the office in a coffee can filled with kerosene;
    * Dozens of babies are born with Dr. Lehman’s help; Katie’s little boy is his first at-home birth;
    * Three-year-old Davy rallies to overcome a life-threatening illness at birth, only to be crushed under a tractor wheel;
    * Barb, the Amish leader’s wife, joins Doc Lehman in an unusual partnership, setting aside a bedroom in her own home as an alternative “delivery” room.

Writer Hoover captures in sometimes local vernacular the joys and dilemmas of a family practitioner among a rural and predominantly-Amish community.

CONTENTS:
Photo Gallery
Introduction
1. The Scent of Trouble
2. A Country Boy Come Home
3. Patients on the Floor
4. Checky and Becky
5. Against Better Knowledge
6. Barb’s House
7. Dogs, Bullets, and Other House Call Hazards
8. Slit Throats and Office Dilemmas
9. Quivering Sheets and Other Hospital Escapades
10. The Case of the Rare Blood Factor
11. The Quandary of the Amish Bishop and the Telephone
12. I’m not God!
13. Amish Church at Barb’s
14. My Son!
15. Twilight Rendezvous
16. Blizzard Babies Don’t Wait
17. Coroner Duty
18. A Dog in Doc’s Bed
19. Court Order
20. Jeep Doctor
21. Med School Memories and Mishaps
22. Hang in There, Barb!
23. Doc’s Amish Birthing Center
24. Zebra-Striped Toast and Contagious Contractions
25. The Mysterious Case of “Little Boy Blue”
26. The Puzzle of the Perplexing Pains
27. A Jewish Kippah for Doc
28. Five Small White Crosses
29. No Million Dollar Work-Up
30. The Pie Takes the Prize
Epilogue
Endnotes
Glossary
About the Author


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dorcas Sharp Hoover, a former schoolteacher, lives with her family in Dover, Ohio, a short drive from what is known as “Amish Country.”

Dorcas is married to Jerry, pastor and businessman. They have six children, ages five to 19.

Dr. Elton Lehman delivered four of their six children in the birthing center he designed. At every delivery, he always had a new story to tell. Jerry would say, “Dr. Lehman, you need to write a book!” Dr. Lehman would reply, “Yes, but I’m not a writer.” And then, Dr. Lehman asked Dorcas if she would write his story.

House Calls and Hitching Posts is Dorcas’ fourth book.