FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE - YEARS IN THE MAKING

[CROWN COUNCIL]

If there ever was an example of dedication and determination all wrapped in one bundle, it would be Florence Nightingale. What’s more, if there was a person who had it made, as the saying goes, before she set out on a most challenging path, this again would be the same valiant lady.

When Florence was eight years old, her family took a seven-month tour of the world along with six servants. Considering her family’s affluence, Florence Nightingale could have lived a life of ease with never a worry about finances or lack of social status.

But that was not to be. Florence wrote at an early age (in 1837) that she knew she was called to serve others in a very significant way. Soon after she developed that conviction, she decided she could serve mankind best as a nurse. This was a time when people of Florence Nightingale’s social status would consider that profession to be very much below their class.

Because there were little or no formal nurse training facilities in existence at that time, most of the training was done on the job. Being determined, Florence joined nurses in hospital service and noted the great lack of sanitation. She next joined a group of nurses who labored in a military hospital and was eventually appointed Superintendent of the Female Nursing Establishment of the English General Hospitals in Turkey where there were 12,000 men in military hospitals. Her organizational skills were soon recognized along with her strong will and intelligence.

When she returned to England, she set about reforming hospital procedures and especially sanitation which she said was even worse than in the military hospitals. Her insights were soon recognized and hospitals were built around the world using her plans and ideas.

Using funds from a charity fund provided by her parents, Florence Nightingale established a nursing school and in fact several of them. She was very active and along the way she turned down two marriage proposals.

When the U.S. Civil war broke out in the United States, President Abraham Lincoln asked Florence Nightingale to help in the organization of military hospitals in the Northern States. Because of her dedication and the endless things she could see that needed to be accomplished, she soon became bedridden with exhaustion. However, she kept on writing and directing and passing on her insights. For 40 years she continued without seeking rest or relief from her dedicated work.

Today she is still recognized as a pioneer in hospital administration both military and civilian. She was surely years in the making and an outstanding example of focus, determination, and dedication to a worthy cause.

Gregory B. Anderson–director