From July 12 to 16 a major Adventist Nurses' Convention was held at the Royal Court Hotel near Coventry. The event was organised by the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference Health Ministries department and U.S. based Loma Linda University School of Nursing, in conjunction with the British Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Health Ministries department. It was largely funded by "The Ralph and Carolyn Thompson Charitable Foundation" and was attended by around sixty people from countries all over the world, including: Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, South America, Mexico, Kenya, Philippines, India, Romania, Germany and Scandinavia, as well as the United Kingdom.

Key speaker and organiser of the Adventist Nurses'convention was Dr Patricia Jones, Associate director of Health Ministries at the General Conference. She spoke on the subject of "wholeness", which led into the general theme for the week, "Wholistic Nursing Practice". Speakers from the UK included: BUC Health Ministries director Richard Willis, Phyllis Woolford, Nola Ishmael, Carol Cox, Linda Franck, Elsie Staple, Betty-Ann Pilgrim, Sylvia Ham Ying, Juliana Tang-Hickey, and Kathleen Weekes.

Although the schedule was full, with many lectures interspersed with breakout sessions, the event closed with a banquet and social time when delegates and presenters alike were able to relax with impromptu entertainment. Particularly memorable were: the calypso music from Trinidad, a chopstick demonstration and competition from Hong Kong, and narrated music from China.

Speaking this morning on her way back from the conference by mobile phone Dr Jones said, "The delegates were very engaged in the discussions and the atmosphere was extremely positive. The conference has been the fifth in an ongoing series of 'Global Partnerships in Nursing for Wholistic Nursing Care' conferences which have been held around the world, and the group showed a very keen interest in knowing where the next conference will be."

This international convention was part of Loma Linda University School of Nursing's continuing education programme and those who attended gained credit towards their own professional development. (Editor: John Surridge for BUC/APD)