a place to love nurses

I have not jumped off the face of the earth. Just been busy since graduation — I’m sure some of you can sympathize! There’s more to come as soon as I get some free time. And please feel free to submit!!

“The Lady with the Lamp” is the quintessential nurse figure. She cared for the poor and distressed, and became an advocate for improving medical conditions for everyone. In her early life, Nightingale mentored other nurses, known as Nightingale Probationers, who then went to on also work to create safer, healthier hospitals.

In 1894, Nightingale trained 38 volunteer nurses who served in the Crimean War. These nurses tended to the wounded soldiers and sent reports back regarding the status of the troops. Nightingale and her nurses reformed the hospital so that clean equipment was always available and reorganized patient care. Nightingale soon realized that many of the soldiers were dying because of unsanitary living conditions, and, after the war, she worked to improve living conditions.

While she was at war, the Florence Nightingale Fund for the Training of Nurses was established in her honor. After the war, Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing and opened the Women’s Medical College with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell.

International Nurses Day is celebrated on Nightingale’s birthday, May 12, each year.

“I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping, and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.”

“Nursing isn’t just a career; it is a way of life. You will never again look at things the same way. You, without thinking why, will look at people through different eyes. You may look at a crippled person and with insight see what it is that they need to make their life easier or you may hear a simple cough and run through all the possible diagnoses that could cause that cough. Prepare to amaze yourself and those around you. You are now a member of the most honorable profession on earth. People will come to you in a time of crisis, need, or despair and you will inevitably be there with sound critical thinking, open arms, and a strong shoulder. Being a nurse is a lifetime commitment to the betterment of the world around you. You will work long hours and get little sleep because your brain will never stop thinking about ways to help your fellow man. As a nurse you have dedicated your very existence to helping those in need. I stand here today with pride and hold my head high with the knowledge that I will be placed among some of the greatest people in history. Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, and Helen Fairchild; these women forged the path that we are all taking today. They pulled the title of nurse from that of widows and homeless women into an honorable educated profession directed toward helping heal the sick. Some say that nurses are angels; if this is true then they are angels unaware. Nurses don’t do their job for the glory or for the money; they simply do what is in their hearts to do. I close now with a small piece of advice. Be proud of who and what you are; you are now and will forever be an extension of God’s healing hands. Just wanted to share my thoughts with you.”