Nurses' student staffworker

Dimity Grant-Frost started parttime three days aweek inSeptember as the new studentstaffworker for Christian Nursesand Midwives. We introduceher:

Dimity – tell us about yourprofessional life to date?
I qualified as a nurse inAustralia nine years ago andworked for a year there beforemoving to London. Initiallynursing for an agency, I thenworked as a community clinicalnurse specialist in west Londonbefore joining the palliative careteam at the Royal MarsdenHospital. I spent almost fiveyears in that role, taking a yearout to complete anapprenticeship at my church.

What are your hopes forthe role of nurses' studentstaffworker?
I hope that the team and I willwork together to serve Christiannurses and nursing students tothe glory of God and that as aresult nurses would be moreprofound lovers of the LordJesus, serving the sick,vulnerable, marginalised andour society, to the glory of God.

What do you do outsideof work?
I have been blessed with lovelyfriends, and I spend a lot oftime with them. I love to readand talk, to leave London andbreathe proper air from timeto time, to go to the cinema,theatre and art galleries, tocuddle other people's babiesand to sit and stare out ofwindows.

Briefly, how can webest pray for you?
Please pray that I will be afaithful disciple of Jesus andthat by his Spirit I wouldbecome a more godly womanevery day. Ask God to providefor Steve, Annie and me as weseek to grow (both in faithand numbers) the fellowshipof Christian nurses in the UK.And please pray that Godwould transform our societythrough the influence of godlymen and women seeking tolive out the Gospel throughthe nursing profession.

Nursing & AlliedProfessions update

The work of the nursing teamat CMF is gathering pace. WithAnnie and Steve, Dimity hasbeen working on a number ofevents, including a euthanasiastudy evening for Londonnursing students, roadshowsfor student and qualifiednurses in the Midlands andNorthwest, plus plans forSaline Solution courses formultidisciplinary groups inSouth Wales and other parts ofthe country. We are revampingthe Christian Nurses &Midwives (CNM) newsletter,have created a new CNMmembership form and onlinemembership application (seewww.cnm.org.uk), and havebeen getting this literature outto nursing schools around thecountry via Christian Unionsand local CMF groups.

If you have links with anyChristian nurses, alliedprofessionals and studentsin your area, do put themin touch with us – emailannie@cmf.org.uk,dimity@cmf.org.uk orsteve@cmf.org.uk

Unfinished business in Madagascar

Mandritsara is atown in northcentralMadagascar andhome to a Christian missionhospital, where four CMF members(and their families) live and workand where others have been onelectives and visits. My wife (Jen) and I had the privilege of visitingthe hospital for four weeks. Our contribution, not being doctors,was to help with the administration and finances of the hospitaland related projects, using the skills God has given us.

By the time the next edition of CMF News is published I willhave left CMF. When I came to CMF in January 2008 the staff andtrustees faced a number of obstacles which prevented CMF frombuilding a stable base on which to move forward. Since then wehave implemented an accounting system, replaced the membershipdatabase with one which works for us, introduced direct debits anddeveloped a lot of policies and procedures which give a clearstructure to the way we operate. The IT has been enhanced anda sense of team working has been fostered. As a retired memberof the Business Advisory Committee said to me recently, we havemade great strides forward since 2008. I believe that it is now timeto move on, and for a fresh face to take my place. I do not knowwhat my future work will be, but we are warming to the idea of areturn to Madagascar and continuing the unfinished business there!

Marcus Watkins is CMF Head of Finance and Administration.

London & South-East

Serving members in London andneighbouring counties since June this year,I've been discovering the 'who, when andwhere' of local CMF groups. I've attended seven suchmeetings, and spoken at two.

I've been able to meet more than 75 CMF members (and at leastten not-yet-members) in a variety of other situations as well: in theworkplace, in church, in the coffee-shop or curry-house, at home,and on committees or visiting headquarters here at Johnson House.I appreciated afresh the value of Saline Solution at a trainers' coursein Coventry – what a vital resource for building bridges with patientsand promoting truly whole-person medicine. In the pipeline: buildinglinks with local churches, mentoring among the membership and anew programme of Saline Solution. No two days here are the same,for which I'm very grateful!

Julian Churcher is CMF Staffworker London & South East.

Books for Ukraine

CMF was pleased to be able to support the Ukraine junior doctors'conference in October which was attended by 400 delegates from over20 countries. We sent 400 copies of both Cure for Life and Matters ofLife and Death to give away to participants. William Lampteycomments: 'I want to thank you so much for the books sent to us...24 Muslims attended the conference; most of them are reading thebooks and are getting more interested in following the Lord.'