Florence Nightingale

     Florence Nightingale was born on May12,1820 in. She was born to a wealthy high class family. Florence was taught by her brother, who made sure she knew German, the romantic languages, and many other languages. In 1844 she had a religious experience and decided that her life should be given to helping others, and that she said," To marry would be akin to suicide." Her wanting to be a nurse was met with much opposition by her family. She attended the Sisters of Charity in Paris, the Deaconess Institute in Germany, and taught herself much about the subject of nursing by reading reports on the subject.

     After winning the support of her family she became the superintendent of the Harley Street Nursing Home, where she put many of her ideas to work, such as bells for the patients to call for help, bring food to them, and sanitation standards.

       During the Crimean War she traveled to the military hospitals with other nurses she recruited from other hospitals to reform them, but met stiff resistance from doctors. So she and her nurses helped in the kitchen, from there they were allowed to help with the bathrooms, from there they started a laundry service, and from there they were allowed to help in the wards. She eventually made many reforms on the single station level, but could not get the country to change its policy completely.

     After returning from the war she wrote many books, but not many were influential. She was described as a bedridden old woman who wrote only to get her reforms by some government official. She died August 13, 1910.

     Florence Nightingale changed the stereo-type of nursing from outcasts and former prostitutes to respectable and educated women, she introduced the use of statistics to medicine, and through reforms and books she inevitably saved the lives of thousands then and now.

By Matt Thorn