Florence Nightingale's Birthday!!
The 12th of May is Florence Nightingale's Birthday. So we thought we would celebrate by sharing with you the mervelous story of this historic woman.
So... who was she?
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), known as “The Lady With the Lamp,” was a British nurse, social reformer and statistician best known as the founder of modern nursing. Her experiences as a nurse during the Crimean War were foundational in her views about sanitation. She established St. Thomas’s Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses in 1860. Her efforts to reform healthcare greatly influenced the quality of care in the 19 and 20 centuries.
Where did she come from?
Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy to Frances Nightingale and William Shore Nightingale. Nightingale’s affluent British family belonged to elite social circles. Florence was raised on the family estate at Lea Hurst, where her father provided her with a classical education, including studies in German, French and Italian.
Why Nursing?
From a very young age, Florence Nightingale was active in philanthropy,by the time she was 16 years old, it was clear to her that nursing was her calling. When Nightingale approached her parents and told them about her ambitions to become a nurse, they were not pleased. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing. When Nightingale was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal from a “suitable” gentleman, determined to pursue her true calling despite her parents’ objections. In 1844, Nightingale enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany.
The Crimean War
After quickly rising through the ranks as a nurse in England and greatly improving the sanitation of the hospital, she recieved her biggest challenge. In late 1854, Nightingale received a letter from Secretary of War Sidney Herbert, asking her to organize a corps of nurses to tend to the sick and fallen soldiers in the Crimea. Although they had been warned of the horrid conditions there, nothing could have prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw when they arrived at Scutari. In addition to vastly improving the sanitary conditions of the hospital, Nightingale created a number of patient services that contributed to improving the quality of their hospital stay. She instituted the creation of an “invalid’s kitchen” where appealing food for patients with special dietary requirements was cooked. She established a laundry so that patients would have clean linens, along side many other things.
Nightingale's Notes
Based on her observations in Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army, an 830-page report analyzing her experience and proposing reforms for other military hospitals operating under poor conditions. The book would spark a total restructuring of the War Office’s administrative department, including the establishment of a Royal Commission for the Health of the Army in 1857.
A Hero's Welcome
On her return to england after the Crimean War, The Queen rewarded Nightingale’s work by presenting her with an engraved brooch that came to be known as the “Nightingale Jewel” and by granting her a prize of $250,000 from the British government.
The Nightingale Rose Diagram
With the support of Queen Victoria, Nightingale helped create a Royal Commission into the health of the army. It was discovered that a large number of deaths were from preventable diseases.Nightingale translated this data into a new visual format. Her polar area diagram, now known as a “Nightingale Rose Diagram,” showed how the Sanitary Commission’s work decreased the death rate and made the complicated data accessible to all, inspiring new standards for sanitation in the army and beyond. She became the first female member of the Royal Statistical Society and was named an honorary member of the American Statistical Association.
Nightingale's Nurses
Nightingale decided to use the money to further her cause. In 1860, she funded the establishment of St. Thomas’ Hospital, and within it, the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. Young women aspired to be like her. Eager to follow her example, even women from the wealthy upper classes started enrolling at the training school. Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon by the upper classes; it had, in fact, come to be viewed as an honorable vocation.
Want to learn more about Florence Nightingale? We found all this information and more at History.com.
Inspired by her story? Why not explore it further in our Play in a Day workshop about the 'Lady with the Lamp' herself?!
