International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12th, the birthday of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910.)   Her father was a wealthy landowner and liberal Unitarian, so she had an advantaged childhood.  She was close to him because he didn't have a son and he treated her as a friend and companion.  Her domineering Victorian mamma was primarily concerned with finding Florence a good husband.

Her father took charge of her education and she learned Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, history, philosophy and mathematics.  While her mother and sister were content doing charitable works around the estate, Florence and had bouts of depression and feelings of unworthiness. At seventeen she felt called by God to some unnamed great cause.

Florence refused to marry several suitors, and at the age of twenty-five told her parents she wanted to become a nurse. Her parents were totally opposed, because nursing was a low-class occupation with about the same status as cleaning lady.  She persisted, and in 1851 her father relented.  She studied at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses in Germany and two years later she was appointed "resident lady superintendent" at a women's hospital in London.

During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale volunteered her services to the military and was eventually given permission to take a group of thirty-eight nurses to Turkey. There was considerable prejudice against women in medicine.  When she arrived, she found the conditions in the army hospital filthy and appalling.  Typhus, cholera and tetanus killed thousands more than battle wounds.

The no-nonsense Nightingale quickly set to work. She procured hundreds of scrub brushes and asked the least infirm patients to scrub the inside of the hospital from floor to ceiling. Nightingale herself spent every waking minute caring for the soldiers. In the evenings she moved through the dark hallways carrying a lamp while making her rounds, ministering to patient after patient. The soldiers, who were both moved and comforted by her endless supply of compassion, took to calling her "the Lady with the Lamp." Others simply called her "the Angel of the Crimea." Her work reduced the hospital’s death rate by two-thirds.

Florence Nightingale Bio

She came back to England an unlikely hero, and received an award of $250,000 from the British government. Poems, books and plays were written about her. At some point the "Florence Nightingale lamp myth" overtakes her real contributions to medicine.  Thanks to her, nursing became a respectable and honorable occupation for women. The books and articles she wrote on preventing disease set new standards for cleanliness and hospital care.

Nursing School Graduation, June 2014

There wasn't a dry eye in the auditorium when Amanda and her classmates recited the "Nightingale Pledge" at the graduation ceremony. Some people question that Nightingale does not represent modern nursing, and certainly her pledge language from 1893 is outdated for contemporary nursing.  But the new modified pledge is still beautiful and meaningful, and refers to providing non-judgmental care for all who need it, regardless of social status.

Today is the day to thank a special nurse in your life.  We are proud of you, Amanda!