Clinic for Special Children
The Clinic for Special Children is one of the most advanced gene research clinics in the USA and often considered a model for rural health care. The facility, established by world-renowned doctor D. Holmes Morton in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, specializes in genetic problems of the Amish plain sects.
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The clinic treats about 600 children for 80 different genetic disorders or syndromes such as glutaric aciduria (GA1), maple syrup urine disease (MSUD), Crigler-Najjar syndrome (CNS), and medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD). Not all the children are Amish; about 15% of the caseload comes from as far awas as Africa and Asia. Simin Nejabati, the mother of one boy whom Dr. Morton has been treating, moved her family from Iran to obtain help from the clinic. “The clinic is a miracle for the children,” she said. About 75% of the children are treatable - and a third of those are highly treatable, many through techniques developed at the center. The center is responsible for nearly two dozen scientific papers.
The Amish and Genetics
The quarter million Amish in the US all derive from about 200 families that moved from the lower Rhine valley in the 18th century, without intermarrage. Gene pools tend to improve themselves over time, when undesirable recessive genes reinforce each other, resulting in an individual who does not breed. This happens more quickly in a small gene pool as the undesirable recessives are more likely to appear, but what is good for the gene pool is tragic for the families involved.
Genetics researchers have studied the Amish since the 1950s - but it wasn't until the 1980s that Dr. D. Holmes Morton took a special interest in Amish children with rare metabolic diseases. Holmes was a Harvard-trained pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia when he first became aware of their special problems.
History of the Clinic
In 1989, Morton bought untillable land from an amish farmer and held a barn-raising. The result was a community hospital providing care, counseling, and genetic testing for disorders unique to the Amish and Mennonite populations.
He initially did most of his own genetic testing and lab work, but now outsources DNA testing for over 30 genetic disorders in addition to the 25 extremely rare disorders he and his team screen for.
Now, Amish and Mennonite near Middlefield, Ohio have raised $700,000 towards the $1.8 million needed to open the nonprofit Deutsch Center for Special Needs Children there, with Dr. Heng Wang, who studied and worked with Morton.
The community holds several benefit auctions for the clinic each year, raising sufficient funds to cover about a third of the clinic's operating costs. Amish and Mennonite families donate quilts, furniture, baked goods, and other items to the sale. The clinic is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity.