Nightingale was born into a wealthy family, and her father, William Edward, was a learned, cultured man who worked as a statistician. Her mother, Fanny Smith, was also from a prominent British family, not only wealthy, but also a generation of good deeds, the reputation of the township. Nightingale graduated from Cambridge University, well versed in mathematics, proficient in English, French, German and Italian languages, in addition to classical literature, but also in natural sciences, history and philosophy, good at music and painting. Nightingale was home-schooled from an early age. Her mother was dissatisfied with her because she had no intention of marrying. She chose to become a nurse out of being a housewife, a literary scholar, and a nurse.
In the 1850s, Britain, France, Turkey, and Russia were engaged in the Crimean War, and Britain had a 42% mortality rate among its war fighters. Nightingale took the initiative and volunteered to be a field nurse. She arrived at the front with 38 nurses to serve in the field hospitals. She did her best to remove all kinds of difficulties, to provide the wounded with the necessary supplies and food, and to care for them conscientiously. The mortality rate of the wounded and sick dropped to 2% in only about six months. Every night, she made her rounds with an oil lamp in her hand, and the sick and wounded affectionately called her Ms. Lamplighter. At the end of the war, Nightingale returned to the United Kingdom and was revered as a national hero.
In 1860, Nightingale used more than 4,000 pounds of government incentives to create the world's first formal nursing school, and then she founded the midwife and economically disadvantaged hospital nurses training courses, was known as the founder of modern nursing education.
In 1901, Nightingale was blinded by overwork. In 1907, the King of England issued an order granting Nightingale the Order of Merit, becoming the first woman in British history to receive this highest honor. Later, she also initiated the organization of the International Red Cross. On March 16, 1908, Nightingale was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. On August 13, 1910, Nightingale died in her sleep at the age of 90.
Her life, which spanned the whole of Queen Victoria's era, was a superhuman contribution to the creation of nursing. Her lifelong commitment to the reform and development of nursing led to remarkable achievements. All of this made her one of the great women of the 19th century, admired and celebrated by the world.
Nightingale died, in accordance with her will, did not hold a state funeral. She was praised as the "angel of the wounded" and "Lady Lamp (God)". Beijing Shida version of the textbook of the twelfth book of the sixth unit of the third lesson "White Angel", Chongqing Xishi version of the textbook of the twelfth book of the sixth unit of the fourth lesson "Goddess of the lamp" tells her story.
In Chinese and foreign history, there have not been many people, especially women, who have been able to overcome all the difficulties and establish a special career with their persistent beliefs. Florence Nightingale, the originator of modern nursing and the founder of the modern nursing profession, is one of the most iconic of these great women.
In order to commemorate her achievements, in 1912, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) advocated that hospitals and nursing schools in all countries should hold commemorative activities on May 12, the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, and designated May 12 as the International Day of the Nurse, in order to remember and commemorate this great woman.
[edit]Nightingale anecdotes
■ good heart, give up the rich and powerful
Father William and mother Fanny, both have noble blood. In England, they owned two homes: Incline Cottage and Emberley Gardens. Every summer, the scorching sun, their family like migratory birds, non-stop to the "YinYue villa" summer; and in the rest of the year, they live in the garden of Embry-Riddle. In the spring and fall, the family was busy visiting friends and relatives in nearby London. Little Florence's childhood was spent in heavenly surroundings.
But, strangely enough, her excitement was not always with her friends. She loved riding ponies, talking and playing with the kittens, puppies and birds around her. She delights in taking care of them. Once a little tit died, she wrapped the bird in a handkerchief and buried it under a pine tree in the garden, and put up a little tombstone with an epitaph -
Poor little tit/why did you die/the crown on your head/was so beautiful//but now/you lie there/ignoring me. /Ignore me
From the time she was a child, she kept to herself and was not as mischievous as the average child. She was stubborn and obstinate, sentimental and seemed overly precocious. She grew up alone in the midst of all the bustle.
While the garden of Emperley flourished, the outside of the garden was devastated, and in 1842, England was in an economic depression, with starvation on every corner. Florence wrote in her notes: No matter what time, my heart, always can not let go of those suffering people ......
In July 1843, it is the hot season, Nightingale's family once again to the YinYue villa summer summer, she defied the opposition of her family, to help the poor around. She was not afraid of filth and suffering, and spent more and more of her time in the huts of the sick. Because many of the sick lacked food and clothing, she often insisted that her mother give her some medicine, food, sheets, bedding, clothes, etc. She used these for the relief of the poor. These she used for the relief of the poor, in order to relieve their immediate needs. When it was time to return to Emperley Gardens, Florence did not want to stop halfway, she wanted to stay in the area. But her mother argued that a daughter of nobility should be doing something else, and that wasting time nursing the poor was absurd. Her father and sister also sided with her. Florence is alone.
At the time, the British concept of dealing with all kinds of patients was very dirty and dangerous. People shied away from words like "hospital" and "nursing" because they were horrible, humiliating things. Due to the backwardness of medical standards, coupled with the decline of the country and the frequent wars, in England after 1844, hospitals were almost synonymous with misfortune, degradation, sloppiness and chaos. Lacking the necessary management, it sometimes resembled nothing less than a madhouse. In Florence's opinion, the most unacceptable thing is not the terrible medical conditions, but the bad reputation of the hospital "nurses" and their low quality.
In August 1845, Florence traveled with her father to Manchester to visit her sick grandmother. She stayed with her grandmother as she became more ill, bedridden and neglected. Soon, her grandmother's health improved considerably. Then Mrs. Gale, the old nanny, fell ill again. Florence rushed back to the house and nursed the very sick Mrs. Gale with great care. Until the end of the old man, Florence has been waiting for the bedside, did not leave half a step.
In the fall of that year, when the plague struck the countryside near Emporium Gardens, Florence, along with the local pastor, took an active role in caring for the sick. She was proving herself over and over again, and her faith in life grew stronger.
In those days, people thought that nursing was simple and that there was no need for training. Even Florence herself used to think that as long as she was patient and compassionate, she could help patients relieve their pain, and that was all there was to nursing. One day, she witnessed a woman, dying in agony in front of her. This patient had taken the wrong medication. "She was bound to die in peace; the caregivers had 'poisoned' her!" This thought struck her as a great revelation. She knew from then on that nursing was an important discipline. She had no choice but to learn about it if she was to realize her vision.
A few miles from Emperley Gardens, there is a clinic where the attending physician, Mr. Fuller, is of some repute, said to be a graduate of Oxford University, and an old friend of the Nightingale family. So Florence intended to persuade her parents to give her some time to study at this clinic. It happened that Mr. and Mrs. Fuller were invited to be guests at Emperley Gardens, and she offered to study under Fuller in the presence of her parents.
Unexpectedly, a storm broke out. The father leaves; the mother goes mad, saying she can't bear the thought any longer; and even the sister shouts hysterically that she must be "possessed" - not only is it a disgrace to aristocracy, but it will also bring germs into the house that will kill the whole family.
Mr. and Mrs. Fuller were embarrassed. In order to appease Mr. and Mrs. Nightingale, they had to "pour cold water" on Florence and persuade her to give up her idea.
Under great mental pressure, she clenched her teeth and did not give in. She began to secretly study the hospital report and the government's blue book. She also wrote privately to foreign experts (such as the Prussian ambassadors, Mr. and Mrs. Benson), asking them for advice on various issues. And, from time to time, she asked for surveys on the hospital situation in the cities of Paris and Berlin. Every morning she studied for at least an hour or more. When the breakfast bell rang, she would quickly gather up her books and go downstairs to dinner as if nothing had happened, looking regular and trying not to mention her inner thoughts. Her mother put her in charge of organizing the pantry, the pantry, and the hiding room, and she didn't dare to slow down at all. She hoped that her mother would come around. She wrote to her friend, Miss Clark, "I have had to do a lot of housework. The coats, glasses, and china are buried up to my chin. They are simply tedious. And I can't help asking myself, 'Is this life?' Is this what a reasonable person, a person willing to make a difference, wants to do every day?'"
She also received an olive branch of love. At a party, she befriends Richard, a young philanthropist (it was from his proposal to separate juvenile offenders from adults to receive more reasonable and humane corrections). Richard fell in love with her at first sight, and the two of them talked about poetry and paintings and had a pleasant relationship. Richard's countless letters were a great source of spiritual comfort to Florence in her time of loneliness and helplessness, and she once referred to him as "the man I admire." However, when he proposed, she thought long and hard about it, but refused him. She wrote to Richard: I am destined to be a wanderer. For the sake of my vocation, I would rather have no marriage, no society, no money.
Florence once exuded an attitude of pursuing a celibate life in a letter while talking about her own views on marriage: 'The common prejudice is that, in the final analysis, one must marry; it is the inevitable destination. However, I ultimately feel that marriage is not the only thing. It is entirely possible for a person to find greater joy in her career, in making herself feel fulfilled and satisfied." She has since turned down all her suitors.
At Florence's request, Sir Benson sent her a book, The Annals of the Women of Christian Charity at Caesar Watts. The book describes Kaiserwurz's advanced philosophy in nursing and the circumstances surrounding it.
She read it carefully and was overjoyed. As a charitable medical institution, Kaiserwurz was exactly the place she had dreamed of for many years. It was a place where she could be properly trained in all aspects of the profession, and where the religious atmosphere and strict rules were a "shield" to protect the nurse's reputation from public criticism.
But she did not dare to ask her parents to go directly to Caesar's Wortz, and took advantage of her convalescence to go first to Frankfurt, which was at that time at the forefront of nursing in the world. At a dispensary she learned a number of useful things. Two weeks later, she left feeling qualified to be a certified caregiver.
When her parents and sister realized that she had been a "thief" in nursing and was studying medicine privately, they were furious. They joined forces to punish her, making her "shut up" and not allowed to leave the house.
She was at war with her family for several years. As time flies, on June 8, 1851, Florence wrote in her notes with unprecedented firmness: "I must be clear that, by holding out and waiting, the opportunity will pass me by in vain. From them, all I would get was a growing conflict. I was clearly not going to get sympathy or support. Should I just sit back and wait? Absolutely not! I must fight on my own for all those things on which I depend. I must take matters into my own hands with regard to the causes that are mine. My lot in life, my true happiness, depends on my efforts; they will never be gracious with me."
This time, she did do what she said she would do, and she did what she said she would do. First, she went to Caesar's Wortz, under the pretext of going out for a break, and after two weeks of study there, she decided to go again to Frankfurt, in order to obtain a more systematic study. She calmly announced her decision to her family; her father was calm, but her mother and sister, alarmed, again endeavored to prevent it. This time Florence did not budge at all. The three of them had a huge fight. When the father saw that his efforts were ineffective, he became angry and walked out of the house with his shotgun and his dog. After he left, they argued even more. The mother even tried to slap her, but she deftly dodged.
The next day, Florence bravely left the house. To the Reverend Siddall Fledner's asylum - an institution that had a hospital, a nursery, an orphanage and a school for training schoolgirls.
Florence lived in a small room in the orphanage. Her place of work was the orphanage and the Frankfurt Women's Hospital. All the work she learned to do and refused to be left behind at all, even surgical care she attended. This was very hard for her. After all, at that time, it was completely "unseemly" for an aristocratic woman. She understood this, but she didn't care.
During this time, she wrote several letters home about her situation and her desire to reconnect with her family. On her 32nd birthday, she thanked her family for their well wishes and wrote a special letter to her father, Verne. It read:
"Although it is true that I am not young, I will nevertheless be more persistent in exercising my vocation. Indeed, I am happy that I have at last regained my freedom. My unfortunate adolescence is over, and I don't hold on to it much. It will never return, and I rejoice in that because it means that I will have a new life."
■ Stately and generous, with a molded ambition
One day in 1837, Nightingale felt she heard the voice of God asking her to fulfill a mission. From an early age, she used to care for the sick and disabled in nearby villages and nursed her relatives to relieve the suffering of the sick. Her parents objected to her becoming a nurse, believing it to be a breach of family honor. But the feudal consciousness and social influence never made her lose her confidence in doing nursing work.
As a young girl, Nightingale often assisted her father's old friend (a doctor) to take good care of patients, and gradually became interested in nursing. She has been to Germany, France, Greece and other places to study the hospitals and charitable organizations in these countries, enrich the reading power, firm determination to aspire to the nursing profession. She studied nursing on her own and participated actively in discussions with medical societies about social welfare, children's education, and the improvement of hospital facilities.
Because of the family's wealth, Nightingale's early childhood life is extremely well off. The people they interacted with were also socialites, including politicians, literary writers, artists, and local gentlemen of the time. This enabled her to enjoy the comfort of the Victorian era to the fullest. But in Nightingale's little mind, the face of this kind of pampered life and do not feel happy, she Maine canon shy, do not want to see the stranger, often have a kind of inexplicable sense of silence. At the age of twelve, she studied Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, history, mathematics and philosophy with her father. Under her father's guidance, Nightingale made great progress in her studies. She often read aloud with her father, talking, when her father traveled, they exchanged feelings with letters. 1837, the family traveled to the European continent, the parents used the group of daughters in Europe to grow in all parts of the world to see. At this time with the Gale has been seventeen years old, Yiran became a beautiful girl. Their family spent a year and a half, traveling around France, Italy, Switzerland, along the way to see the lakes and mountains, art monuments, and everywhere to investigate the social conditions. Nightingale from a young age has developed the habit of remembering things and writing a diary, what they saw and heard, are - a record, which became an important information for her future schooling and governance. She met some famous people in France and socialized with famous women who were engaged in social activities. She took a keen interest in politics and the public, and was particularly attentive to charitable organizations. Since she was a young girl, she had this self-belief in the service of mankind and a strong will to do good in the world.
After traveling on the European continent, she found the care in hospitals to be extremely poor, and felt that Britain needed to have a hospital like the St. Vincent de Paul Mercy in France. She felt that Britain needed to have nuns like those at St. Vincent de Paul in France to take care of the sick. Nursing began to germinate in her mind, she wanted to be a nurse! The image of nurses in England at that time was that of a crude, aging woman, ignorant and incapable of performing medical tasks. Nightingale's choice of this work was, in her mother's opinion, simply incredible!
In 1839, the family returned to the United Kingdom, this time Nightingale has emerged as a dignified and generous, often in the family will be my socialites, very much the world's attention and appreciation. She was particularly interested in meeting social workers and innovators from all walks of life, including a well-known physician who worked at the County Longleesbury, which inspired her to study at the hospital.
At that time, most hospital wards were large, overcrowded rooms with beds in close proximity to each other, the walls and floors covered in blood and stains, and the stench was intolerable to those who came in. Such deplorable conditions abounded everywhere, and there was little difference. Once an American physician Samuel Hao to her home as a guest, Nightingale asked him for advice on being a nurse, Dr. Hao praised her ideas and encouraged her to persevere in her efforts, but ultimately difficult to obtain parental approval. During this time, justinger for catering to the hearts of parents, one side of the study, absorb the new knowledge about health, one side of the arrangement in the parents, to participate in some social activities, and met two extremely intimate boyfriends. One was her cousin Henry Nicholson; the other was Charles Mains. Their advances, however, were both rejected by Nightingale. She decided to be celibate! What a remarkable decision this was at the time, and she resolved to dedicate herself to nursing! She described her feelings at the time in detail in her diary, word for word and tear for tear. Mains went on to become a member of Parliament and a lifelong supporter of Nightingale's cause. At the beginning of 1848, she was in Rome, I will be Hildeuer Hebert, this gentleman is handsome and elegant, refined, a style of English gentleman. Hébert and Nightingale at first sight, life-long noble friendship, and later he elected to become Minister of War, Nightingale's cause to give support.
In October 1849, she once again traveled with friends to Egypt, crossing the sea to Greece; in April of the following year, arrived in Athens. Everywhere she went, Nightingale visited charitable institutions, such as nursing homes, orphanages, and related medical relief agencies, etc. On May 12, 1850, which was her 30th birthday, she wrote this birthday message in her notebook: "Today I am 30 years old, the very age at which Jesus Christ began to devote himself to the preaching of the Word. From now on there should be no more childish behavior. No more thoughts of love and marriage. Only let me think according to God's will and act according to His plan. She felt that it was her God-given responsibility to devote herself to nursing!
■Founding a nursing school and volunteering to save lives
In her time, no one of stature was a nurse. Those who were nurses were often ignorant, rude, alcoholic, untrained women. She took advantage of her travels to Europe to learn about nursing everywhere. She finally chose the Catherwolds Hospital, which she had learned about, and attended a short four-month training course there in 1851, making her dream of studying nursing finally come true. During her studies, she experienced first-hand the hard work that nursing requires to relieve patients' pain and give them spiritual comfort. 1844 saw her set off from England on a tour of the European continent, covering France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and other countries, and visiting hospitals in various countries, and in 1850, despite her family's objections, she went to Kaisersführerstrasse, Germany to receive her nursing training. Her talents were discovered and in 1853 she was employed as superintendent of the London Nursing Association for Sick Women.
Nightingale's ambition finally moved her father to promise to fund her with five hundred pounds a year. And on August 12, 1853, in the Charity Commission under the funding, Nightingale in London, Harley Street, set up a nursing home, began to show her ambition, she took many measures, so that people at the time breathtaking. For example, the use of the patient to call the bell, set up a winch in the kitchen to transport meals to the sick, she emphasized that "any woman, regardless of creed, rich or poor, as long as the sick, can be sheltered ......" She showed extraordinary ability in her work, and everyone was obedient to her.
In August 1854, cholera occurred in the slums of suburban London, Nightingale disregard for personal safety, volunteered to participate in emergency ambulance work. She tended to the dying patients in the hospital, running around all day, many people 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 wears a black silk material long shirt, plus a black shawl, giving people a graceful and elegant. The impression of generosity...."
■ Goddess of the Lamplighter, righteousness
In 1853, Turkey, Britain and France and Russia broke out the Crimean War. in March 1854, Britain and France to aid Turkey, officially declared war on Russia. in September, the British and French allied forces landed in the Crimea, the report sent back from the front of the wounded soldiers no one to take care of quite a lot of comments. 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 as high as 42%.
When these facts were disclosed by the press, there was an outcry. Nightingale heard the news, immediately wrote a letter to the then Minister of War, Mrs. Hébert, said that she would like to lead 40 nurses at her own expense to go to the battlefield to save the wounded. For a 35-year-old woman at the time, this was a very daunting challenge. At that time, female nurses, known as "Sisters", had long been in existence in the advanced countries of Europe, but Britain, 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 engaged in busy work.
Initially, the doctors, on the basis of traditional beliefs and jealousy, advocated that they should not be allowed to enter the ward without the doctor's instructions. 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 the 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. In such poor conditions, a large number of wounded soldiers were infected with dysentery and cholera.
Nightingale took out her own ￡ 30,000 for the hospital to buy drugs and medical equipment and re-organize 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 were received by 3,000 to 4,000 casualties. Here, her managerial and organizational talents were brought into full play. 6 months later, the field hospital underwent a dramatic change, and the casualty mortality rate dropped 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." Therefore, the "nurse with a lamp" and "nurse college students burning candles and wearing a hat ceremony", has also become a common theme of Nightingale commemorative stamps and nurses thematic stamps.
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 disease. She suffered from Crimean fever in the Crimea, and before her health was fully recovered, she continued to work. in November 1856, she returned to England as the last 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."