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Florence Nightingale – An Early Social Entrepreneur
By Neil Peterson | January 4, 2010
In the century since her death, the name of Florence Nightingale has become synonymous with kindness. But while recognizable to all, just who she was – and how influential her life’s work has been in the ensuing decades – is still shrouded in mystery. She is an icon – for healthcare workers, professional women, social entrepreneurs, and those who struggle against the still-existing standards set by society over what is possible and attainable. But the life story of this indomitable woman is a richer, more revealing portrait of how one person’s determination can inspire millions – and leave a positive mark on the world for succeeding generations.
Voice of Florence Nightingale
Nightingale was the second daughter of a wealthy, upper-class British family, named for the Italian city of her birth. Deeply religious, Nightingale credited a divine experience at the age of 16 for inspiring her to pursue a career in nursing – a choice in direct opposition to social mores of the time in which young women were expected to embrace marriage and motherhood. She began her professional nursing studies in 1845, having gained some experience in her work with London’s impoverished communities in the previous year. Nightingale was an impassioned advocate for the city’s poor and played an instrumental role in the reform of England’s Poor Laws – allowing for improvements to medical care and social services.
Her professional career already well-established, it would be her dedication to the wounded British soldiers fighting in the Crimean War that would earn her national recognition. Distressed by the reports of the high fatalities encountered in makeshift field hospitals, Nightingale traveled to Turkey in 1854 with 38 female volunteer nurses, all of whom she hand-selected and trained before the journey. Upon arrival at Scutari, Nightingale was appalled by the conditions, calling it ‘the nearest thing to hell on earth.’ The overwhelmed military doctors struggled with limited medical supplies, poor hygienic conditions, and mass infections of illnesses such as dysentery and typhus – contributing to thousands of unnecessary deaths. As the first team of female nurses ever allowed in a field hospital, Nightingale and her staff offered aid and comfort to the soldiers, who sent word home of their remarkable efforts.
Lo! in that hour of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom…
- ‘Santa Filomena’, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
It was during the Crimean War that Nightingale would earn her nickname, ‘The Lady with the Lamp‘, for her nightly practice of conducting solitary rounds of the infirmary after the doctors had retired. But it was not the only reminder she would take home after the war had finished. Having witnessed the devastating toll the substandard hygienic conditions had upon the health of the soldiers, Nightingale began to develop her own theories of the impact of poor living conditions on the sick and wounded. She presented her resulting ‘Environmental Theory‘ to the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army, which prompted numerous advancements in sanitation standards and even led to improvements in hospital design.
In the years following the war, Nightingale would establish the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, offering the first official nurses’ training program. In 1859, she published ‘Notes on Nursing’, meant as a primer for entry-level nursing students and now considered a classic text on the subject. Until her death in 1910, she continued her work as an advocate for her profession and is credited today for establishing the modern nursing profession. Indeed, her influence on the generations that followed was so profound, each year International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday. It is a fitting tribute to a remarkable pioneer.
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