Florence Nightingale made nursing modern, professional
By JODY RATHGEB

For a woman who died 100 years ago, Florence Nightingale is still pretty modern and hip. Consider these facts about the founder of modern nursing:

Rebel with a cause. When Florence Nightingale was born May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy (yes, that's how she got the name), her English parents likely assumed she would marry and take her place in society. They were, after all, wealthy and typical of their time. But Florence had other ideas and wanted to go into nursing. Her family objected, because nurses were considered low-class and akin to prostitutes. The daughter was determined, however.

During her travels in Europe, she spent some time at Kaiserworth, a German training school for teachers and nurses, and her 1853 appointment as superintendent of London's Institution for Sick Gentlewomen in Distressed Circumstances was close enough to the charity work deemed acceptable by the rich. This nice "end run" put her in a good position to take action during the Crimean War in 1854. Think "M*A*S*H" without the helicopters. The war pitted Great Britain, France and Sardinia against Russian expansion in Europe. Men were dying not only on the battlefields but also in the military hospitals. Florence organized 38 nurses to work in one of them in Scutari, Turkey (now known as Uskudar).

Conditions were terrible. Built over a cesspool, the place itself was toxic, and the supply system was so labyrinthine and corrupt that few needed items got through. Florence set to work having the nurses clean, working toward gaining acceptance by the doctors (there was still that prostitute attitude) and improving the supplies by using her connections in London. Finally, when the Sanitary Commission in England took notice and more action, the high death rate at the hospital began to fall.

Eyeing the glass ceiling. When Florence left Turkey in 1856 after the war ended, her new goal was to improve the whole hospital system with her ideas about professionalism in nursing, and she was not shy about using her wealthy family's influence. When in 1860 she founded a school for nurses at St. Thomas's Hospital in London, it was with the help of a fund created through her well-heeled acquaintances. Today, the school is the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, part of King's College, London.

Florence also became a writer, the better to spread her ideas. Her "Notes on Nursing" was published in 1859, and she followed it with "Notes on Hospitals" and another piece on hospital administration in the British Army.

All her work earned her a number of awards and commendations, and in 1907 she was the first woman to receive Britain's Order of Merit.

Don't believe the rumors. If you've squinted at the old photos of Florence Nightingale and think she was just a fusty old spinster, think again. As a young woman she did have suitors, but she was so single-minded about nursing that she didn't even consider marriage. But she always preferred working with men and on occasion complained about the nastiness of women . so she's no feminist, either.

Then there's that romantic "Lady With the Lamp" thing. OK, she did make hospital rounds at night, but that was because she was more of an organizer and administrator than ward nurse, so evenings are when she finally got around to that work.

And that pledge that nurses make at school? She didn't write it. The Florence Nightingale Pledge was written by Lystra Gretter, an instructor of nursing at the old Harper Hospital in Detroit. First used in 1893 by the graduating class there, it is an adaptation of the Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians.

Meanwhile, the rumor of a relationship with Country Joe McDonald (yes, of Country Joe and the Fish of Woodstock fame) is true. McDonald became interested in Florence Nightingale and nursing when attended a seminar on Vietnam veterans in 1981, and he includes a tribute to her on his Web site. He has also written four songs about nursing, including "Lady With the Lamp." Sources: notablebiographies.com, Wikipedia, countryjoe.com