In August 1854, when cholera broke out in the slums of a London suburb, Sandra Nightingale volunteered to take part in emergency care, regardless of her personal safety. She spent her days running around the hospital tending to dying patients, many of whom died in her arms. Mrs. Caskell on Nightingale's righteousness is highly esteemed, because she personally experienced and felt the spirit of Nightingale's dedication, she describes: "She is tall, slim and slender; a head of brown dense short hair; white and fine complexion; grey eyes flashing melancholy depressed look, but sometimes show waves of happiness, really memorable; her teeth are beautifully straight and a sweet smile. Her head was covered with a long, soft scarf of hair, tied up along the corners, which set off her white, quiet, melon-faced face with even greater beauty. She often wore a black silk material long shirt, plus a black shawl, giving people a graceful and elegant. The impression of being generous...."
■The Goddess of the Lamplighters, Righteousness
In 1853, the Crimean War broke out between Turkey, Britain, France and other countries and Russia.In March 1854, Britain and France formally declared war on Russia in order to aid Turkey.In September, British and French allied forces landed in the Crimea, and in the reports that were sent back from the front, they were quite opinionated about the fact that no one was taking care of the wounded soldiers. The report said that there were nuns to take care of the wounded in France and the Sisters of Mercy in Russia, so why were there no nuns to take care of the wounded in Britain! Moreover, the medical care provided by the British army was very poor. The death rate of the wounded was 42%.
When these facts were revealed to the press, there was an outcry. Nightingale heard the news and immediately wrote a letter to Mrs. Hébert, then Minister of War, offering to lead forty nurses at her own expense to help the wounded in the field. For a 35-year-old woman at the time, this was a very daunting challenge. At that time, female nurses, known as "Srsters", had long been in existence in the advanced countries of Europe, but England, because of religious and social stereotypes, had always been opposed to the presence of female nurses in hospitals, especially in war hospitals. on October 15, Minister Hébert acceded to her request and sent a letter back to Florence Nightingale, inviting her to to lead a group of nurses to Scutari, to be appointed by the government and given financial support. Nightingale readily agreed, and five days later the government made her head of the Women's Nursing Corps at the British General Hospital in Turkey. The corps consisted of thirty-eight members, of whom fourteen were professional nurses selected by the hospitals and twenty-four by the religious orders, and on October 21st they hastily dressed for the journey. Arriving at Scutari on November 4, they were immediately put to busy work.
Initially, the doctors, based on traditional perceptions and jealousy, advocated that they should not be allowed to enter the ward without a doctor's instruction. They were turned away for four days in a row. In the face of this situation, Nightingale first began to improve the diet of the wounded soldiers, change dirty clothes, *** with the commitment to clean up the work. She y felt that a perfect hospital, there must be adequate water supply and good drainage system. In three months she cleaned 10,000 shirts. In order to accommodate 800 new patients, she paid for emergency repairs to the wards. Nightingale's positive spirit of service finally dissolved the hostility of the military doctors and won the love and trust of the wounded. Night and day, she put all her heart into nursing work, so that the hospital gradually on track, and her office, naturally, has become the center of radiating warmth and love. The site of the British hospital was originally a Turkish garrison barracks, the building was simple and simple, and the equipment was even more scarce, so the whole hospital was dirty and disorganized. Because the hospital was scheduled to accommodate 2,500 wounded, all the corridors were opened as wards. These corridors were four miles long, with overcrowded beds, poor sanitary facilities, particularly poor ventilation, foul smells, sludge on rainy days, sandy soil on sunny days, and swarms of rats roaming about, making it an extremely hostile environment. Each patient was allocated only 500 milliliters of water per day. As there were not enough beds, many patients slept on the floor, and there were not enough blankets, some of which were replaced by canvas, which many wounded soldiers preferred not to use. Fuel was constantly in short supply, and the provision of meals was even more unsatisfactory. General medicine was extremely scarce. Under these poor conditions, a large number of wounded soldiers were infected with dysentery and cholera.
Nan Dinggel took out her own 30,000 pounds for the hospital to buy drugs and medical equipment and re-organization of the hospital, the establishment of the wounded to improve the living environment and nutritional conditions, reorganization of the operating room, cafeteria and laboratory, and soon changed the face of the field hospitals can only take in 1,700 wounded field hospitals by her arrangements actually received 3,000 to 4,000 wounded. Here, her managerial and organizational skills were brought into full play. 6 months later, the field hospital underwent a dramatic change, with the casualty mortality rate dropping rapidly from 42% to 2%. This miraculous and visible nursing effect shook the country, and at the same time changed the value of nurses in Britain and raised the status of women, nursing work has been valued by the community since then. The importance of nursing was recognized. At the same time, for women to open up and create a noble profession. Nightingale to pay great energy and effort, she established a nurse patrol system, every night she always carries a wind lamp patrol wards, often working more than 20 hours a day. When night fell, she carried a small oil lamp, along the rugged path, 4 miles away from the camp, bed by bed to see the sick and wounded. The soldiers affectionately called her "Lady with the Lamp", "the Angel of the Crimea". The sick and wounded wrote: "The light came wavering over, and the cold night seemed to be filled with warmth. ...... Hundreds of us lay there, and when she came, we struggled to kiss her slender figure floating on the wall, and then lay back contentedly on our pillows." This is known as the "shadow kiss." As a result, the "Nurse with a lamp" and "Nursing students burning candles and wearing hats" have also become common themes for Nightingale commemorative stamps and nurses thematic stamps.
Sandra Nightingale's great success in the Crimea and the spirit of selfless work, won the praise of the public in all countries. The importance of nurses' work was recognized, and nursing has been valued by society ever since.
Overworked, Nightingale contracted a lifelong illness. She suffered from Crimean fever in the Crimea and continued to work before her health was fully restored. in November 1856 she returned to England as the final evacuee. At the end of the war, Nightingale avoided the government's ceremonial welcome and quietly returned home to England under the name of "Miss Smith". She said, "I do not want flattery, as long as the people understand me."