Florence Nightingale - The Lady With the Lamp
Once upon a time, there was a lady who changed the concept of nursing and showed the world what difference a little passion and love can make. We know her as “the lady with the lamp”; Florence Nightingale.
Early life and the Call: Nightingale was born in 1820, in Florence, Italy (she was named after her birth city). In her time, girls often received no education at all. Florence’s father decided that his daughters should be educated and taught them himself. Belonging to a rich family, Nightingale spent her time mixing with other rich children.
But when she was 16 years old, she experienced a “Call from God” that urged her to do something for society. She believed that she was called for a reason. She became interested in medical science and nursing. Her family objected and opposed this, as it was very unnatural and unbecoming of a young lady in their status to study the subject, but she rebelled against them to pursue higher education and training in the field. In her twenties, she saw how the sick people in her village were treated and was convinced that God wanted her to be a nurse.
In 1847, she met Sidney Herbert, who had been Secretary at war. They developed a friendship that would later prove to be very useful. In 1951, she visited Kaiserwerth in a hospital that was renowned for training nurses. She took three months of training there and returned home as a trained nurse. In August 1953, she became the superintendent in a clinic in Upper Harley Street, London. When her father realized that his daughter was really serious about this, he sent her 500 British pounds every year, which allowed her to pursue her career.
Crimean War
The Crimean War started in 1854. It was mainly between Turkey and Russia. Britain and France were allies of Turkey in that war. The Times published that the British troops were dying due to lack of enough medication, doctors, and nurses. At this time, Sidney Herbert, whom Nightingale had met earlier, wrote to her, asking her to gather a group of nurses and head towards Turkey. Nightingale saw her chance to serve the people, gathered 38 nurses, and reached Scutari, Constantinople, where the wounded soldiers were brought to.
She found that the condition of the hospital was poor, unhealthy, and miserable. Wounded soldiers lay on the floors, and there were unhygienic food, rats and fleas everywhere. She discovered that only one-fifth of the soldiers died from their actual wounds. The rest died from infection and diseases. Appalled by this, Nightingale and her fellow nurses immediately started the work to improve conditions. The doctors in charge were at first reluctant
Florence brought about an immense change in the conditions of the hospital. She believed that poor hygiene and living conditions were the main causes of the high death rate. She took the initiative to clean up
Post-war
After the war ended in 1856, Nightingale returned to England and met Queen Victoria. They talked about how military hospitals could be improved. Nightingale was hailed
She wrote a book titled “Notes on Nursing” in 1859. In the next year, she opened the Nightingale Training School to train young nurses. Those who finished training from here were known as Nightingale Nurses. For the rest of her life, she advised and instructed many people, organizations, and even the American government on nursing, sharing every bit of experience she gained through her life in the war.
Florence Nightingale showed us how one can dedicate their whole life to serving others. She disregarded the norms of her society to spend her entire life doing something for the people. It is hard to find such compassion towards other human beings in another person. She was truly the Lady with the Lamp. She was an enlightened soul and illuminated others near her.