Heroines from the Past

Florence Nightingale

Heroine: a woman having the qualities of a hero; a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities; the central female figure in an event or period.

Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer and the founder of modern nursing.

Nightingale became known while serving as a trainer of nurses during the Crimean War in Turkey, when she organized nursing care for wounded soldiers. Responsible for giving nursing a favorable reputation she also became known as “The Lady with the Lamp,” because of making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

In 1860, Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing by establishing a nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. The Nightingale Pledge is taken by new nurses, and the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international distinction a nurse can achieve, is named in her honor, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday.

Her social reforms included improving healthcare for all sections of British society and advocating better hunger relief in India.
And she was a prodigious and versatile writer. In her lifetime, much of her published work was concerned with spreading medical knowledge. She was also a pioneer in the use of infographics, effectively using graphical presentations of statistical data.

Sources: Wikipedia & Britannica where you can read more.

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