In the last episode of season three of 1st incision, we look back at some of the ways Christian Medical Fellowship has been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and at some of the resources and support for health professionals that is still available. We're taking a break for the summer, but we'll be back in the autumn with a fresh series of interviews and discussions at the interface of faith, medicine, nursing and midwifery that affect our Christian lives in today's world.

Past episodes of 1st incision are available from our BuzzSprout page, including all 41 episodes of voices from the frontline

You can find out more about our Pastoral Care Programme at cmf.li/PCWP

While COVID1900Prayer has now finished, you can join us every Friday at 5pm for our new video series on Facebook and YouTube -Pause+Pray

And we'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions for the podcast - just email Steve Fouch on 1st.incision@cmf.org.uk

The Christian faith stands or falls on the miracle of Jesus' resurrection. But how do we stand in relation to miracles today, especially as health professionals? Do miraculous healings still happen, can we command them, and how we handle situations where our patients claim to have been healed?

David Randall talks with Steve Fouch about how we can engage with the miraculous as Christians and health professionals.

In our fortieth and final voices from the frontline, we talk to Audrey, an intensivist at a Glasgow intensive care unit.

At the sharp end of dealing with COVID-19, she and her team have been working longer hours, with trainees and non-specialists taking on new roles caring for those most seriously affected by the disease. How have she and her team handled the remarkable circumstances in which they have found themselves in the last three months? How has she found Jesus amid this crisis?

This is the last of our special series of voices from the frontline podcasts, but the 1st incision series continues, with a new episode going live next Friday, 29 May.

Esther is a community-based pharmacist, working closely with general practices. With social distancing and shielding, normal dispensing of medicines has changed considerably. What are the challenges, changes and stresses that pharmacy staff facing during lockdown. How is she finding spiritual support, and how can we pray for Esther and other pharmacists and frontline workers at this time.

Esther is an active member of Christians in Pharmacy - a national network for Christians working in and studying all aspects of pharmacy - check out their Facebook Page and their website for more details and to get in touch

Dr Janan works as a surgeon in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. His work involves regularly providing surgical care in refugee camps. Northern Iraq has been in lockdown since the first cases of COVID-19 appeared in March, and it seems that the epidemic is under control there. But there is still a real concern that the coronavirus could still break out in the refugee camps, where hand washing and social distancing is not practical. With economic pressures, insecurities and concerns about infection spread, how can we support and pray for Janan and his teams working with refugees in the region?

You can find out more about Dr Janan's organisation, HOME at https://www.homeforhim.org/

Ben is a frontline paramedic, dealing with priority ambulance calls. He also helps lead a Christian fellowship group within the ambulance service, part of the Christian Ambulance Association. There have been increased pressures and opportunities since COVID-19 became a real issue, and it has changed his work, but also the network of support and prayer for frontline crews. How are Christian paramedics and ambulance staff responding in faith and hope to what God is doing in the midst of this pandemic?

You can find out more about the Christian Ambulance Association at https://www.caauk.net/

Alice is a palliative care specialist. In a speciality that has always focused on touch, close personal interaction and open access visiting, COVID-19 and social distancing measures have totally changed the way that she is caring for the dying and the bereaved. It is taking a toll on her team as well as on dying patients and their families. As she goes into these difficult situations, how does her faith equip her to respond in such a time as this?

Mental health is a big issue in the current crisis. Today we talk to Hans, a psychiatrist from Switzerland. Uncertainties about the illness, its effects on us and our loved ones, on our livelihoods, on everyday life, can all lead to anxiety and isolation. How can we cope with these strains on our mental health? Are there positive challenges and opportunities to be discovered in these situations?
You can find out more about ICMDA at https://icmda.net and at our COVID-19 blogs at https://cmf.li/COVID19blogs

What about those who aren't on the COVID-19 frontline?

Steve works at CMF and is a consultant neuro-rehabilitation specialist. He was due to go into partial retirement just as the lockdown began, but instead found himself at home with no clinical role and watching his colleagues putting their lives on the line to care for patients. How has this affected him? What is he doing now, and how are the non-COVID patients he sees dealing with the situation? It's not just some health workers who feel sidelined. And, in the midst of all of this, what does Steve hear God saying?

You can read Steve's blog Sidelined? Or waiting for God's time to serve?

Tom is a senior consultant in pain medicine, specialising in portable devices that help manage chronic pain. Although he practised for many years in the US, he is now working in the UK. How is COVID-19 having an impact on his work? How does he see his faith equipping him to meet the needs of his patients?

Lee is a neonatologist, working with very premature babies who need intensive support in the first weeks of life. He recently volunteered to work at the London Nightingale Hospital, working with adults on ventilators with COVID-19. He supports more junior staff who are less experienced in nursing ventilated patients. How does he reconcile his Christian faith with the suffering he sees as a result of COVID-19?
NB - this podcast was recorded in late April, before the announcement that the London Nightingale Hospital was to be mothballed.

Rachael is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Manchester. Before the pandemic she was halfway through her neurology placement, but since COVID-19 interrupted her studies, she has been volunteering at the hospital, helping out in practical ways supporting clinical staff. With her studies suspended and the coming months looking really uncertain, how is her faith helping to keep her focused and grounded.

You can read more about CMF's student ministry at https://www.cmf.org.uk/students/

Chelsea is a paediatric critical care nurse who has been re-deployed to an adult ICU caring for COVID-19 patients. What is it like moving from child to adult intensive care? What is it like working twelve-hour shifts in PPE with the most seriously ill COVID-19 patients? How is she processing all she has had to deal with over the last few weeks?

You can read more about CMF's nursing and midwifery ministry at https://www.cmf.org.uk/nurses/

Tim is clinical scientist with many years' experience in developing anti-viral drugs. He is currently heading clinical development for a UK pharmaceutical company. At the moment, many clinical trials are in suspension as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown isolates vulnerable patient groups. At the same time, there is a significant re-deployment of people and resources to find drug candidates that will inhibit the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. As a Christian scientist, how does he harmonise his faith and science - do they have anything in common?

CMF recently produced an edition of our student magazine, nucleus, that focused on the relationship between faith and science. Read it at https://cmf.li/2NmQNRO, which includes links to many other resources on Christianity and science and their long and misunderstood relationship.

Ella is a redeployed ophthalmology trainee. She has been moved from her normal specialist training post in eye medicine to work on an acute COVID-19 ward, and finds herself having to learn and re-lean a very different set of medical skills while getting to know a totally new clinical team and a new hospital. She was also expecting to get married soon, but has had to cancel it and change major life plans at very short notice. How has her faith shaped her response to the frustrations and changes she is having to juggle at the moment.

See the CMF Juniors pages for more information about CMF's ministry to medical trainees from Foundation Years to Senior Trainees - https://www.cmf.org.uk/juniors/

Georgie is a surgical nurse in an acute surgery unit. They are seeing fewer patients, which raises the concern that people are staying away from hospital out of fear of COVID-19, increasing their risks from their current condition. At the same time, like many other health workers, COVID-19 is having a real impact on her family life. She is also busy supporting final year students suddenly put in the frontline through her role in CMF. How is she managing with these additional stresses and strains, and how can we pray for her and the students she supports?

Georgie's blog, Uncertainty: our new normality, is available from https://cmf.li/3aceJjm

Michael is GP in Sydney and is regional secretary for the International Christian Medical Dental Fellowship (ICMDA). Like many countries at the moment, Australia is on lockdown and practising social distancing in response to COVID-19. How are Churches and Christian health professionals mobilising as part of the wider national response?