Remembering Florence Nightingale highlights dedication of today’s nurses during COVID
May 10-16 is National Nursing Week in Canada, a week developed to draw attention to nurses and their contributions to the well-being of Canadians.
Now, more than ever, it’s clear just how much we have to be thankful for nurses. With a global pandemic in full swing, nurses (and other healthcare professionals) have been putting their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe. Not to mention keeping their spirits high in the faces of those who say the pandemic is a hoax or that COVID-19 is “just the flu.”
Today, I want to express my gratitude to nurses across the country while taking a brief look into the history of the profession as we know it.
Each year, the Canadian Nurses Association selects a theme for National Nursing Week. This year’s theme, We Answer the Call, focuses on the courage and commitment of nurses which has become more apparent than ever during the pandemic.
So why is National Nursing Week celebrated in May? It aligns with Florence Nightingale’s birthday, May 12. In 1971, the International Council of Nurses designated May 12 as International Nurses Day, so we continue to observe National Nursing Week annually around the same time.
While many of us are familiar with Florence Nightingale and her story, this is the perfect time of year to dig a little deeper and reflect, especially as nurses throughout our country face added challenges.
Nightingale, who later earned the nickname the lady with the lamp, was born in Florence, Italy in 1820. Her parents named their daughter after her birthplace, where they were spending their honeymoon; however, she would go on to spend most of her childhood and adult life in England.
Unlike her mother, a popular socialite, Nightingale preferred to keep to herself and avoid most social situations. For someone who would become a worldwide figure, she ironically shied away from the spotlight throughout her life.
Even as a child, Nightingale was drawn to caring for others, and would often help the sick and poor in her community. By age 16, she knew she would become a nurse, calling it her divine purpose. Unfortunately, Nightingale’s parents thought otherwise, forbidding her from practicing nursing and instead encouraging her to marry a rich man. At just 17, Nightingale refused a marriage proposal, defied her parents’ wishes, and enrolled in nursing at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Germany.
Throughout her life, Nightingale became not only a wonderful and compassionate nurse but a social reformer and statistician as well. She helped collect army mortality data, shedding a light on the shocking number of deaths caused by preventable diseases.
During the war, more soldiers were dying of typhoid and cholera than injuries sustained in battle, but Nightingale’s prioritization on sanitization reduced the hospital’s death rate by twothirds. Nightingale’s time as a nurse in the Crimean War helped expand her views on sanitation, and she eventually established the St. Thomas’ Hospital as well as the Nightingale Training School for Nurses to share her knowledge.
By the time of her death in 1910, poems, songs, and plays were written and dedicated to her, and young women aspired to follow in her footsteps. Nursing was no longer frowned upon as a profession for young ladies.
Even in the end, Nightingale made no fuss of herself, asking for a small funeral when the country wanted to celebrate her with a large spectacle. She is an inspiration not only for those in the field of nursing but for all of us as we face this pandemic with bravery and love for one another.