(Continued from 5/6/2018 Read Part 1 here.)
She became the “Angel of the Crimea”
1853 marked the beginning of the Crimean War. Allied with Turkey, the British and French joined the effort to prohibit the expansion of Russia. The sick and wounded troops were sent to Scutari, a city near Constantinople (Istanbul.) London Times correspondent William Howard Russell wrote articles depicting the horrendous disorganization of the hospitals. The British public demanded that their soldiers receive better treatment.
Sidney Herbert, called back to his position as Secretary of War for the British Government, called on Florence Nightingale to lead a group of nurses to Scutari. She gathered a party of 38 working nurses and traveled to Scutari where she would set up shop at the Barrack Hospital in 1854. What she found appalled her. Overcrowding, filthy conditions, a lack of supplies, and an uncooperative staff needed her immediate attention and talents. At first, the medical officers and army surgeons thwarted her attempts, but when injured soldiers from the Battle of Balaklava and the Battle of Inkerman flooded the hospital beyond capacity, they had no choice but to give Florence her way.
She revolutionized nursing
Nightingale set to work making reforms at Scutari. She reached out to the London Times for aid and obtained the funds for necessary medical supplies. She had the wards cleaned and created a laundry with the help of the soldiers’ wives to provide clean linens and bandages for the sick and wounded. Florence insisted on patients receiving baths, clean clothing, and adequate nutrition. The nurses were instructed to help the soldiers write letters home to aid in their psychological healing. Nightingale herself kept a vigilant watch day and night on her wards and became known as the “Lady of the Lamp” due to her nighttime rounds.
Nightingale’s reforms reduced the mortality rate at Scutari to less than 2 percent. Word of this got back home to England and Nightingale became a celebrity.
She affected positive change
After Florence returned to England, her legacy lived on. Nightingale was not only instrumental in reforming hospital care throughout England and the world through her works and her writing, she also established training for district nursing, where patients could receive adequate care at home. In 1855, she established the Nightingale Fund, and in 1860, she founded the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in London. She was also instrumental in the forming of a school for midwives at King’s College Hospital in London.
Based on Nightingale’s statistical data (she developed the Coxcomb chart which assessed mortality rates) a Royal Commission was sent to India to examined health conditions there, and major reforms were established.
She received the highest honors
King Edward honored Florence with the esteemed Order of Merit, making her the first woman in history to receive it. She also received the title “Lady of Grace” from the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1907, Queen Victoria presented Nightingale with an engraved brooch that later became known as the “Nightingale Jewel.” She also granted her $250,000 to continue her legacy.
She is part of present-day nursing program graduation and pinning ceremonies today
Florence Nightingale is still an important figure in the medical community today. At many nursing programs and schools the “Nightingale Pledge” is recited, followed by a “lighting ceremony.” Candles or lamps are used to signify the “lamp of knowledge” and also pay tribute to Nightingale herself, the “lady of the lamp.”
Nightingale Pledge, (1935 version)
“I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping, and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and as a ‘missioner of health’ I will dedicate myself to devoted service to human welfare.
Called “the Lady of the Lamp” and the “Angel of the Crimea,” Florence Nightingale forever changed the face medical care in England and around the world. Her works and her legacy live on in history and are still relevant today. She was a woman who listened to her calling, knew her truth, and remained steadfast to her purpose until the end of her life.
In 1910, at age 90, Nightingale died in her sleep.
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