Profile of the Day: Florence Nightingale

Posted May 12, 2023 by Amanda | No Comment

Happy International Nurses Day! Today honors nurses all around the world on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

Image: Florence Nightingale / Library of Congress

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy to a rich, upper-class British family. From a young age, she felt it was her calling from God to devote her life to the service of others. Despite her family’s strong objects, Nightingale worked hard to educate herself in nursing.

During the Crimean War, Nightingale was commissioned to lead a corps of nurses to tend to the wounded soldiers. When she reached the camps, she found the conditions to be horrific. The wounded were receiving poor care, hygiene was neglected and infections were common, and often fatal. She immediately began work to make improvements in hygiene, which would help to significantly reduce the death rate.

The soldiers nicknamed her “the Lady with the Lamp” because she often carried a lamp with her on her evening visits with patients.

Do you have nurses in your family? Explore Florence Nightingale’s family tree on Geni and discover how you’re related!