– Yogesh Kumar Goyal
Florence Nightingale, an epitome of kindness and service, is considered the father of modern nursing, whose birth anniversary we celebrate on Friday. Every year his birth anniversary is celebrated as International Nurses Day on 12th May. On this special occasion, it is very important to salute the contribution of the nursing personnel working in the health sector. Nightingale, known as ‘Lady with the Lamp’, was born 203 years ago on May 12, 1820 in the city of Florence, Italy. The ‘Florence Nightingale Award’ was instituted in her name by the Government of India in the year 1973 to honor the exemplary work done by nurses, which are awarded every year on the occasion of International Nurses Day.
Florence Nightingale was a very beautiful, educated and intelligent young woman. He learned English, Italian, Latin, German, French, history and philosophy and traveled to many countries with his sister and parents. At the age of only 16, he had realized that he was born only for service works. However, nursing was not even considered a respectable profession in those days, so her parents believed that it was not the right profession for a girl from a wealthy family. Actually, that was a time when hospitals used to be very dirty places and after the death of sick people there used to be a very frightening atmosphere. In 1850 Florence completed her initial training as a nurse over a period of two weeks at the Protestant Deaconess Institute in Germany. In view of her service towards the patients, the poor and the afflicted, she was finally allowed by her parents in the year 1851 for further studies in nursing. She then began studying nursing at a Christian school for women in Germany, where she learned about patient care methods and the importance of keeping hospitals clean.
Florence’s first significant contribution to the field of nursing was seen in 1854 during the Crimean War. Britain, France, and Turkey were at war with Russia at the time, and troops were sent to fight in Russia’s Crimea. There were reports of soldiers getting injured, dying of cold, hunger and disease during the war. There is no one there to take care of them during the war. In such a situation, in October 1854, under the leadership of Florence, a team of 38 nurses was sent to Turkey by the British government to serve the wounded soldiers. Florence reached there and saw how the hospitals there were overcrowded with wounded soldiers, where a large number of soldiers were dying of infection amid inconveniences due to filth, stench, lack of medicines and equipment, contaminated drinking water, etc. In addition to improving the condition of the hospital, Florence unified the care of the wounded and sick soldiers day and night, which greatly improved the condition of the soldiers. As a result of his tireless work, the death rate of soldiers in the hospital came down drastically. For her service work done at that time, all the soldiers started calling her ‘Lady with the Lamp’ with respect and love. In fact, even when the doctors left after completing their duty, she used to be present in the deep darkness of the night with a lantern in her hand to serve the injured.
When she returned after the end of the war in 1856, Queen Victoria herself wrote a letter thanking her. A few months later, he met Queen Victoria and on the basis of his suggestions, a large-scale improvement in the military medical system was possible and the Royal Commission was established in the year 1858. It was only then that work began to focus on the cleanliness of hospitals, providing better food, clothing and care facilities to soldiers, and training of doctors by the army. Florence Nightingale’s work of service changed the face of the nursing profession, for which she was honored by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Seeing Florence’s sense of service towards patients, the poor and the afflicted, nursing came to be considered a respectable profession for women after that and her inspiration inspired women to enter the nursing field. Due to the untiring efforts of Florence, there was an expected improvement in the standards of patient care and cleanliness in the hospital. Florence Nightingale died on 13 August 1910 at the age of 90, whose grave is in the churchyard of St Margaret’s. It was in his honor that his birthday, May 12, was started to be celebrated as ‘International Nurses Day’.
(The author is a senior journalist continuously active in journalism for 33 years)
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