Your thoughts on Florence Nightingale?

[londonflo]

Florence Nightingale has been a tremondous influence on me. I first learned of her in a history class where she set up the hospital in the Crimean war. Later I learned the whole story about the Crimean war and F. Nightingale's contribution to public health and statistics. When I went to London, I did view her museum but realized I found her story elusive. What was she really like to the people of her generation? 

Here is an internet address which shows an article about F.N. in Frank Leslie's Monthly and Gazette of Fashion, a women's magazine in May 1862 (around the time that F.N.'s Notes on Nursing was published in the US.) This is a primary source that details how she was presented to American women by a national magazine of the period. 

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433103958090&view=1up&seq=449

What are your thoughts about this historic woman?

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I didn't realize I shared a birthday with her until I was a nurse (May 12)  as a Taurus, I know she was stubborn and did not give up easily ?

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

I've visited Country Joe McDonald's (singer songwriter and social advocate) dedicated website to Florence several times.  It includes a time line of her life with key moments and writings listed along with  pictures/links to historical artifacts    http://www.countryjoe.com/nightingale/

How he got interested in Florence's life:

Quote

In the Summer of 1981 I attended a weekend seminar on the problems of Vietnam veterans. The event was sponsored by the Berkeley Veterans Assistance Center and took place in the City of Berkeley Veterans Memorial in the civic center. It was a lightly attended event but featured movers and shakers in the veterans movement who would soon change just about everything for the better. One speaker was a Vietnam War nurse named Lynda Van Devanter, who was the first Vietnam War nurse to "come out" and speak for women in the military. As a member of the audience I was stunned at the realization that I was also guilty of ignoring women in the military in my writings.

I went home and looked in the World Book Encyclopedia under nursing. I found Florence Nightingale. In a brief biography it said that in 1854 as a grown woman she had taken 38 English women off to nurse wounded and sick British soldiers in the Crimean War. And that she suffered a "nervous disorder" for the rest of her life. She lived to be 90 years old and was considered the inventor of modern nursing. I immediately went to Holmes Books in Oakland and found an autographed copy of Sir Edward Cook's biography of Florence Nightingale. And I promised Lynda and other Vietnam War nurses I knew that I would write songs about them.

In the years since then, I have written four songs about nursing, including "Lady with the Lamp." I visited Florence Nightingale's home at Embley along with her gravesite at East Wellow, her Summer home Lea Hurst, the Selimiye Barrack Hospital in Turkey, and Kaiserswerth in Germany. I began work on a major film treatment of her life. I am still working on that film treatment and am still a student of her life.

I now have a 50-minute one person show titled "Country Joe's Tribute To Florence Nightingale And Nursing" which includes my songs about her and in her own words and mine and others tells the story of the Lady With The Lamp. ...

He donated his Florence Nightingale archive to the UCSF Nursing School in 2015.  https://blogs.library.UCSF.edu/broughttolight/2015/05/12/country-joe-mcdonalds-florence-nightingale-collection-will-be-preserved-in-UCSF-archives/

[londonflo]

1 hour ago, mmc51264 said:

I didn't realize I shared a birthday with her until I was a nurse (May 12) 

Me too! That's why nurse's week usually does not start on a Sunday. Nurse's week is always scheduled to stop on F.N.'s birthday.

[RNperdiem, RN]

"Florence understood political power. She didn't just show up on the battlefields of Crimea with a heart overflowing with love of humanity. The secretary of war was a personal friend who believed in Florence's mission.

She had friends with the political power to appoint her a position there, even though the military did not want Florence or her nurses interfering, they were powerless to dismiss her.

She didn't have an official political position, but her reforms of the British Army were put into practice because she got to know the right people. She was an activist who worked at the highest levels to accomplish her goals.

[Chickenlady]

Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale

This is a fascinating book that details the family tree and how family dynamics influenced her.  I was surprised to learn that she took to her bed at the ago of 37 and pretty much never left it.  She did her advocacy through her family and personal contacts and letter writing. 

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

22 hours ago, mmc51264 said:

I didn't realize I shared a birthday with her until I was a nurse (May 12)  as a Taurus, I know she was stubborn and did not give up easily ?

Ohhh that’s my daughter’s birthday. It was Mother’s Day the year she was born ?

[CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN]

My education was lacking because I definitely thought she was American and served in the Civil War. My son, who was 6 or 7, set me straight after reading a Magic Treehouse book featuring Florence. 

[londonflo]

Maybe you were thinking of Clara Barton?

[CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, londonflo said:

Maybe you were thinking of Clara Barton?

I think you're right-- I did have a book about Clara Barton when I was a child.

[amoLucia]

Does anyone remember a young girls' series (?) of a nsg candystriper! I'm thinking Cherry Ames, maybe???

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, amoLucia said:

Does anyone remember a young girls' series (?) of a nsg candystriper! I'm thinking Cherry Ames, maybe???

Had several Cherry Ames books--  first was Student nurse in series.  Books still available today.

https://play.Google.com/store/books/series?id=t5n4GgAAABBOgM&hl=en-US&gl=us