Florence Nightingale by DeLorey

Have you ever heard of Florence Nightingale? She was one of the greatest nurses of all time and she was the founder of modern nursing.

Early Life and Childhood
Florence was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy, and was named after it. She had a very wealthy family and lived in a huge mansion in England. She had a sister named Parthenope. Her parents taught her and her sister from home instead of sending her to school. Her father taught her foreign languages and her mother taught them housework (cooking and cleaning). When she told her parents she wanted to be a nurse, they were very disapproving. They thought that it was un-ladylike for a wealthy young woman to be a nurse or have any other profession other than being a housewife and hostess. But, Florence would not let this get in her way.

Making Hospitals better and important events
In 1844, she went to Germany to work at a hospital called the Kisers hospital. She left Germany after a while to work at a different hospital in England. After only a year, she was promoted to head nurse. On February 7, 1837, Florence believed she had received a call from God. During the Crimean war, the British army asked Florence to tend to the wounded soldiers in Turkey. She accepted, but when she got there she was shocked at what she saw. It was so dirty, that more soldiers were dying from infections than wounds, it was infested with bugs and rats, and most of the soldiers were lying on the floor. Florence took charge immediately. She made sure that all the soldiers had their sheets washed, plenty of food and water, and had their bandages changed every day. She wandered the halls at night carrying a lamp. The soldiers knew her as “The Lady With the Lamp” A few weeks Later, Florence had decreased the death rate by ⅔.

Accomplishments and Later Life

Florence was such a good nurse that she received a medal from Queen Victoria and she was Honored by France, Germany, and Norway.In 1860, Florence founded a school called The Nightingale training school for nurses at the St. Thomas hospital in England. However, most of the hospitals in England were still very dirty. Once again, Florence took charge. She spoke to Queen Victoria, and after she did, England had the cleanest hospitals in all of Europe. She died on August 13, 1910.

Now you know all about Florence Nightingale, from when she was born to when she died.