Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Lovely Lady of the Hour


One of the most famous female nurse in the world of medicine is Florence Nightingale.  Florence Nightingale was born was born May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy. She was raised in Lea Hurst with her sibling and her mother and father Mr. and Mrs. William and Frances Nightingale. Her mother was a British socialite and her father was a wealthy landowner. Even at a young age Florence showed interest in being a nursing, by the age of sixteen she was caring for the sick people of the village close to her families land (“Florence”).

I think it is very common for young people to take interest in what they want to do early on in life. I believe this occurs so that we know later on when the time comes for us to choose a career that it is really what we want to do. Rather than go through all of life’s obstacles only to find out in the end that what we did we had no passion in it what so ever. During the Crimean War  Florence and a group of nurses improved the unsanitary conditions of the British base hospital (“Florence”). The team managed to reduce the death count by two-thirds, the writings and notes that she took during her service called for health care reform all over the world.

According to the article “Florence Nightingale Biography”, Florence Nightingale parents were not happy about the fact that she wanted to be a nurse. During the Victoria Era the life plan of a woman was not to find her own career but to find a man of wealth and status and marry him. Against her parent wishes she attended the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany as a nursing student in 1844. I believe at some point every teenager has a rebellious moment. Some may not be as extreme as some of the rebellious acts other people may commit but they get there point across.

Florence returned to London in early 1850 (“Florence”). I think every child returns home at some point in time no child can stay away forever. Well in my opinion no child can stay away forever. As I stated before Florence Nightingale was a nurse in the Crimean War that broke out October 1853. At the time there was no female nurses in the military camp, the previous nurses held a bad reputation (“Florence”). In 1854 Florence was asked by the Secretary of War Sidney Herbert to come with a group of nurses to help the understaffed hospital. She established St. Thomas Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses in 1860.  Florence Nightingale died August 13, 1910 in London. I am happy to say that Florence Nightingale is one of the reasons that I am pursing to be an RN. She is a role model to me and I hope one day I can make a mark in history like she did. 

 

 

 

 Florence Nightingale Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

1 comment:

  1. Florence Nightingale certainly has a fascinating history! I agree with you that some people just know what they're going to do from an early age, and you cannot persuade them otherwise. And I have to say millions upon millions of us are lucky Nightingale advanced the nursing field as she did.

    I actually want to know more: why did the female nurses have bad reputations before she arrived at the field during the Crimean War?

    Just watch cliches or overused phrasing. I totally knew what you meant when you said no child stays away from home forever, and you even qualified it! But...limit those assertions so that the one lone reader who refuses to go home will read your text and say, "nope, not accurate." Limiting words like "a few, many, most," etc. can really qualify a comment.

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