Florence Nightingale was born on May 12th, 1820 in Florence, Italy and died on August 13th, 1910 in Park Lane, London, England, Untied Kingdom. Florence was lied to rest on her family's plot in St. Margaret's Church, East Wellow, in Hampshire, England. She died at age 90 after all her amazing work. Through her years of working she showed that if you have trained nurses and your hospital is clean, it will help sick people get better.
She was know as "the Lady with the Lamp" or as "the Angel of the Crimea." . She got this nickname because she would make rounds at night and check on all the wounded soldiers. She saved so many lives doing her rounds. While working as a nurse she also worked to improve hospital hygiene and in sanitation.
Florence didn't want a life of leisure, she knew she wanted to become a nurse. When she told her parents that she wanted to become a nurse her parents did not agree to her dreams. Her parents sent her to Italy to make her forget about nursing. Florence traveled to Germany to attend a Christian nursing school for girls.
In 1853 was Florence's first hospital job a was to run a hospital in London for 'Invalid Gentlewomen'. There was no pay but she got money from Mr. Nightingale. Florence made many changes to the hospital.
When the Crimean War began the Minister of War Sidney Herbert asked Florence to lead a team of nurses and to work in the Army hospital in Scutari. In 1854 Florence and 38 nurses arrived in Turkey, to work in the Army hospital. At first the Army doctors wanted to do with the women but finally Florence and her team were let into the hospital. The first thing she did inside the hospital was clean it up.
At age 38 she contracted Crimean Fever from working in the Army hospital. Florence would never fully recover from this disease. She would be bedridden for the rest of her long live. Even though she could not leave her bed she still worked on making nursing and hospitals better. She was so dedicated to her work that she worked until her death.
In her lifetime she won many awards and was honored. In 1883 she won Royal Red Cross, Lady of Grace of the Order of St. John(LGStJ), and in 1907 won Order of Merit. She was the first women to receive the Freedom of the City of London. On her 90th birthday she received a celebratory message from King George. Florence founded modern nursing, she was also a social reformer, and a statistician.
She was seen as a heroine for the rest of her life. She changed the nursing field and how to properly run hospitals. From her bed she wrote Notes on Hospitals in 1859 which focused on how to properly run a civilian hospital. In 1858 Florence also wrote Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army, which was a huge report showing her experiences at Scutari. Her writing sparked total restructuring of the War Office's administrative department which also created the Royal Commission for the Health of the Army in 1857. during the Civil War she was consulted about how to best run/manage field hospitals.
She changed the nursing field, how hospitals were run, and how they were kept clean. Her legacy still lives on today. Florence's life had such an impact on nursing and hospitals there is a hospital dedicated to her. The Florence Nightingale Museum sit on the same spot where the original Nightingale Training School for Nurses was built. The museum commemorates the life of Florence Nightingale. The Lady with Lamp pioneered modern nursing.
https://www.biography.com/people/florence-nightingale-9423539
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/florence_nightingale/
https://www.biography.com/people/florence-nightingale-9423539
http://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/florence-nightingale