May is here and traditionally, it is the month when we had our first bath of the year and danced round the Maypole. Nice and clean and sweet smelling. Why? Well the Maypole in the Middle Ages was a phallic symbol.
Ladies looked for husbands and men looked for wives. The Maypoles were used to usher in Spring and ensure fecundity in crops and livestock.
A lot has changed over the years; well, I think we bathe a bit more often.
In our last News Letter, we said we would profile some of the practice nurses and some elements of their roles .
Annette Marsh BSc (Hons) RGN.
Annette is our Senior Practice Nurse and is very highly qualified in many aspects of medicine. Annette joined the Frithwood practice in 1997 and has spent many of her seventeen years with us as the lead nurse specializing in good health, while travelling abroad. Prevention is better than cure, could be Annette’s catch phrase. She would rather you know the health risks associated with the countries you may be travelling to and take the relevant precautions, rather than you falling ill on holiday and coming home with tales of woe, Montezuma’s revenge or similar. Holidays are not cheap and it would be a shame if it was spoilt through a little lack of planning.
Annette runs a Travel Clinic on a Monday evening, where you can book a place by telephoning the surgery, then listen to her advice. It is probably more important than deciding what to pack in your suitcase for a week or two away on holiday!
Ask Annette what might be included in your holiday First Aid Kit.
Been on a cruise around the Med
And now I’m feeling sick
I didn’t do what the letter said
I’m feeling such a Dick
I could have gone on Monday week
To see Annette the nurse
I’m poorly now and need a tweak
Should have planned around this curse
Laid up at home and in my bed
I’m feeling really rotten
I should have listened to what she said
Now I’m falling through my bottom.
I save real hard for two weeks break
It comes round once each year
Annette’s the key for me to make
My holiday I hold so dear.
45, Tanglewood Way, Bussage,
Stroud. GL6 8DE
Tel.0844 477 8617
Or
01453 882868
Dr Tim Crouch (m)
Belfast 1974 MB, BCh, BAO, D(Obs)RCOG
Dr Bridget Jorro (f)
London 1989 BSc, MB, BS, MRCGP, DCH, FRSH
Dr Jacqueline Slim (f)
Bristol 1987 MB, ChB, DA, DRCOG, DFFP
Dr Ken Burke (m)
Galway 2002 BSc(Pharm), MB, BCh, BOA, DCH,
MRCGP
Dr Dawn Isaac (f)
London 1987 MBBS, MRCP, DcH, DFFP
Dr Camilla Darlow (f) MBBS/BSc
ISSUE NO. 4 MAY 2014
Pippa Williams RGN
Pippa is another long serving nurse at our practice. Pippa has supported the surgery in many ways and has succeeded in bringing to life, the Frithwood Surgery Health Walk. As
Pippa always points out “Walking has so many health benefits. Weight loss, lower blood pressure and it improves your mood”.
And it is free!
Being short of breath from smoking is no good thing, especially if it prevents one from enjoying a brisk walk and keeping fit. Pippa is our lead Smoking Cessation Nurse who can help smokers quit and feel the benefits of
professional help is only a phone call away to the surgery. Just say “I want to give up smoking”. Within fifteen to twenty minutes of Pippa’s time, a smoker will be convinced and supported by Pippa, to give it up and take on a slightly more active life.
Remember a little poem in News Letter 2?
I’ve given up now, it was quite hard
But made easier by the nurse
I now pace my dog yard for yard
And have more money left in my purse

Karen Winstanley (RGN)
If we follow the advice of both Annette and
Pippa, no doubt we will live a little longer.
Living longer sometimes brings its own ailments and so to keep on top of age related developments, Karen’s role as Practice Nurse for the Elderly is to keep patients continuing to make the most of lives after they reach 75 years.
Most of Karen’s work is undertaken in the homes of patients, which is key to Karen having the opportunity to see at first-hand how patients are coping and is a catalyst for tailoring home help to individual needs. This help can be as diverse as providing information and support on health education, claiming relevant benefits, information on physical aids and equipment, home help to undertake tasks which have become more difficult, bereavement support, the list goes on. With over thirty years’ experience as a nurse and twenty of those years working for the Frithwood Surgery in her role, Karen demonstrates her skills promoting patient independence as we grow older. Helping patients enjoy staying in their own home for as long as possible.
The service between our three profiled nurses, is seamless and is more evidence how
Frithwood Surgery can keep us in touch with good health throughout our years.
We have one more Practice Nurse, Clare
Scully. Clare will be profiled in an edition of our News Letter, later in the year along with some work Dr Dawn Isaac is involved with.
While you are about this task, spare a thought for what is in your bathroom cabinet, medicine cupboard or first aid kit.
Medicines, bandages, cream etc. all have ‘use by dates,’ medicines that are no longer appropriate for you or the family, they all need to be disposed of. Please do not throw them in the bin; they might end up in the wrong hands by mistake. Pop them into a plastic bag and return them to the surgery for disposal. If you need to update/replace items, have a word with our resident nurse, Clare
Skully for what could be standard items in any first aid kit or medicine cabinet.
As we reported in News Letter 3, Dr Tim
Crouch will be retiring on 31 st May this year.
Dr Tim will be missed greatly, but he deserves a rest after all his hard work and achievements with the Frithwood practice.
On 30 th May, between 7pm and 8pm, there will be an opportunity for patients to say goodbye to Dr Tim, at the surgery. Light refreshments will be available for all those attending. We are sure he would love to see you all.
As Dr Tim moves into retirement a new practice partner, Dr William Nattrass, BSc.
MBBS. MRCGP. will be joining the surgery team. You may remember Dr Natrass from his attachment to the Frithwood Surgery some time ago. A profile of Dr Nattrass will be published in our next News Letter.
Welcome again Dr William Nattrass.
We would still like to hear from anyone who could help transport patients from home to the surgery or Hospital.
The criteria are on a ‘Can Do’ basis, not a regular support service. If you can agree to an occasional service, please contact a member of the PPG. Your telephone number would be logged and you may be called to help out but only if you can. No one is expecting a regular commitment.
While waiting for one of our patients to be chauffeured back home, an article in a magazine came to the fore. the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.
Out of the home, the humble cucumber can even help in the garden or allotment. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds?
Place a few slices in a small aluminium flat tin or foil and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminium to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee to next door.
Safe for animals too.
Now; are we sure of this property of the cucumber? Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going to the pool or sunbathing on the beach?
Rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great
On wrinkles too.
Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day. Just one cucumber contains
Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin
B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium,
Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and
Zinc.
Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated drink and pick up a cucumber.
The vitamins and Carbohydrates in the cucumber can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.
Non medical properties also abound. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along
Nurse Pippa Williams, has been the lead in introducing the Frithwood Surgery Health
Walk as we mentioned above. But that is not all.
As well as being a member of the NHS Forest initiative, Frithwood Surgery and the PPG have planted Apple and Cherry trees adjacent to the surgery as a sign of commitment to this cause.
Together we have developed a 1.½ mile walk through Frith Wood, past the playing field memorial and primary school in a circular route which ends where it started, at the surgery.
The walk is easy to do with sturdy shoes or trainers and is suitable for buggies/prams etc.
Call in at the surgery to ask for the small brochure which identifies where the route circulates via Munday Close, The Hawthorns, past Squires Close and down to the recreation ground, Ashley Drive and back along Frith Wood to end at the surgery.
Record your time on the brochure and try to complete the walk 3 times per week.
FITNESS RULES OK!
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