May is National Nursing Month
Throughout the world, Florence Nightingale is heralded as the founder of the nursing profession as we know it today. She was called the lady with the lamp by wounded British soldiers when she walked the halls of their hospital at night. Nightingale introduced sanitary methods of nursing in wartime. It marked the first time that soldiers wounded away from home received good hospital care.
Florence Nightingale was named for Florence, Italy, where she was born on May 12, 1820, while her wealthy British parents were living abroad. Her childhood was spent at the two family estates in England with her mother, father and sister, Parthenope. She was taught social graces by her mother, who entertained often, and was academically taught by her father, who was a strict teacher. She studied Greek, Latin, mathematics and philosophy.
From a very young age, Florence was devoted to helping others. She enjoyed caring for babies and sick farmers on her father's estates. She saved the life of an old shepherd's dog. As she grew older, she took over the management of the large Nightingale households.
At age 16, Florence Nightingale made the personal decision to devote her life to service for others. She turned down suitors and declined parties in order to spend time studying health and reforms for the poor and suffering. This was unheard of for a wealthy girl. This upset her family, who refused to let her work in a hospital, concerned that hospitals were dirty and nurses untrained and unfit to care for the sick. This did not deter Florence, who left England to train as a nurse in Paris, France. She returned to her homeland and, at age 33, became superintendent of a women's hospital in London.
Great Britain and France went to war with Russia in 1854; Florence, who was commissioned to take charge of nursing, sailed for Crimea with 38 nurses. They faced a job that appeared impossible. There were hundreds of wounded, and the hospital was a dirty, old and unfurnished Turkish barracks. The sick and dying lay on floors, bleeding and uncared-for. She and the nurses cleaned the hospital, set up a nursing schedule for care, kitchen work and diets. Florence Nightingale believed that every human being's life was valuable.
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While on a visit to the front lines, Nightingale caught Crimean fever and nearly died. She was advised to return to England for medical attention, but she refused and firmly replied, "I can stand out the war with any man."
By the end of the war, she had saved countless lives and brought about worldwide reforms in hospital administration and nursing. On her return to England in 1856, she was greeted with big celebrations. She used a gift of $150,000 from a grateful public to found the Nightingale Home for Nurses. She became a world authority on scientific care of the sick. The United States asked her advice for setting up military hospitals during the Civil War.
The strain of overwork and illness had injured Nightingale's health, and she eventually became a semi-invalid and seldom left her rooms. So government heads, authors, reformers and politicians went to her. Through her work, she reformed nursing and hospital care and saved the lives of millions. Florence Nightingale received public honors as the first woman to be awarded the British Order of Merit.