Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820. She wanted to work as a nurse, but her family did not want to allow it because the hospitals back then were dirty and dark and the nurses were sometimes just drunken women. The occupation of a nurse was not a good reputation back then. Finally, at age 33, she was able to obtain some minimal training and begin her career.

She learned, in 1854, that the wounded soldiers were being poorly cared for. When she arrived at the battlefront, the male surgeons there were not happy with the interference of a woman. While there, she was loving dubbed the title “The lady with the lamp”, by the soldiers of the Civil War. She worked tirelessly to care for the patients, and improve the living conditions at the hospital. Her determination increased standards for sanitation and nutrition dramatically in the medical profession. While at the front lines, she became ill and never fully recovered.

She was appalled at the conditions she witnessed while serving in the war so, in 1859, she helped to establish the first VNA (Visiting Nurse Association). And, in 1860, she established a school that that sparked the modern nurse training. She was considered an expert on the scientific care of the sick. She was often asked by the United States government for her advice on caring for the wounded soldiers of the Civil War. She continued her aid throughout her life unto her last days on earth. She was the first woman to receive the British Order of Merit. In 1907, The International Red Cross Societies listed her as a pioneer of the Red Cross Movement. She passed on in 1910 at the ripe old age of ninety.

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