Story of Florence Nightingale

by FLT 4 0

Florence’s childhood was happy.
Like many girls of the time, Florence did not go to school.
But she was a good student.
Her father taught her foreign languages, history and math.
Florence wanted to nurse the sick.
At the time, nurses were often uneducated old women.
Her parents would not let her be a nurse.
But as she grew older, Florence’s parents wanted her to marry a rich young man and settle down as girls of her age were expected to do.

She was sure that she wanted to be a nurse and help people.
In the beginning, Florence read books and reports about health and hospitals.
She learnt and became an expert to treat the sick and make them better.
When she was 26, Florence went to Germany with some friends to visit a nursing school in Kaiserswerth.
To say, this was where she wanted to study.
In 1851, Florence’s parents let her go to Kaiserswerth.
Then she went to Paris, France, to work as a nurse.
Later, she worked at a hospital for sick women in London.

In 1854, Nightingale heard about the bad conditions for soldiers injured in the Crimean War between Britain and Russia.
Most of the injured soldiers were sent to Scutari.
Nightingale gathered together supplies and a group of nurses to help.
So, they traveled to Scutari Hospital in Turkey.
Sick people had unhealthy food and there were no beds.
To say, she made the ward cleaner and the men were happy to have better food.

They called Nightingale “The lady with the lamp” because she walked around the hospital every night comforting patients.
When the war ended in 1856, Nightingale was famous.
Even Queen Victoria wanted to meet her.
Everyone wanted Nightingale’s advice about hospitals and health.

In 1860, she set up the Nightingale School for Nurses in London.
Nightingale became sick and suffered from Crimean Fever, she was often bedridden over the rest of her life.
She spent most of her time at home, but people came to ask her for advice about hospitals.
Nightingale was blind for the last ten years of her life. She was sick for a long time, but she kept working until she lost her sight.
She died in 1910.

Today, hospitals have become cleaner and looked after by trained nurses.
One main reason is because of the hardwork and dedication of Florence Nightingale.
During her life, nursing had become a respected profession.
Finally, Her birthday is celebrated as International Nurses Day.