To achieve a clearer picture of injuries within Old Order Anabaptist communities, Purdue
University’s Agricultural Safety and Health Program collaborated with the Young Center for
Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College to conduct a pilot study on this topic.
The team developed an injury surveillance system based not on traditional injury data sources
and instruments but on data provided in Old Order-produced publications, specifically The
Budget, Die Botschaft, and The Diary. While traditional surveillance methods have generally
yielded injury data on less than 30 Old Order cases per year, the Old Order Injury Database,
developed through the Purdue/Young Center collaboration, yielded data on 1,153 cases for the
target year analyzed. While the primary focus of the study was farm-related injuries, it is
believed that this type of surveillance system could be used by professionals in a variety of
health-related fields to assist in gathering data and developing culturally appropriate
interventions for Old Order groups
