Who is Jessica?
Aaron & Jessica’s began over 30 years ago with Jessica’s dream to share her love of horses and Amish Country with visitors to bucolic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Raised Old Order River Brethren, the oldest of 6 children, Jessica attended one-roomed schools with her siblings and completed her eighth-grade education. At the age of 14, Jessica obtained working papers from the state and worked with her father to open a new family venture, Aaron & Jessica’s Buggy Rides. With her first horse, Aaron, she enjoyed welcoming all cultures and visitors and sharing the lifestyle of the Plain community from a horse-drawn carriage perspective.
While caring for horses over these early years, she realized she had a love of medicine and wished to provide the best possible care to her horses. At the age of 20, she enrolled in a local community college and after placement testing, she began her first college courses. After several years while still giving rides, she completed her first degree in Veterinary Technology and chose to accept a full-time position in the Operating Room of the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, a large animal hospital. This employment in the modern world taught her much about the outside world of the “English” and it was during this time that she chose to withdraw her Beachy Amish church membership.
Five years later, she aspired to learn more about anesthesia and graduated from human nursing school! She immediately took a position in a local hospital’s Intensive Care Unit and gained valuable experience and life skills she had not received during farm life. She soon found her natural-born leadership abilities and eventually, assisted in the management of several local, multi-specialty physician practices and completion of a BSN degree.
Never satisfied when she reached a goal, she enrolled in another local university and her next goal brought her to care for her own patients as a board-certified nurse practitioner. She spent the next seven years working in her local Plain community and had great pride in attending to Amish and Mennonite patients in their homes, providing well-child visits and vaccines.
Presently, the story continues… Jessica continues to work part-time as a CRNP in the local medical community. When she is not seeing patients, she enjoys giving rides and sharing her experiences and perspective in Plain community healthcare practices. Jessica and her team of local Plain community members are eager to share the unique stories and journeys of their lives during a ride. See you soon!
