On This Day in History: May 12

Florence Nightingale

AUDIO VERSION HERE

Being wounded in battle and sent to a field hospital sucks. Being wounded in battle and sent to a field hospital prior to the 20^th century super sucked. This is the story of one woman who helped it suck less.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: May 12, 1820--

There was no singular event that defined the amazing career of Florence Nightingale, so let’s acknowledge her birth on May 12, 1820.

In the mid 19^th century there was a thing called the Crimean War because Russia and rights of Christians in the Holy Land blah fucking blah. The important thing about it was that it became the face of a more modernized type of warfare that involved things like railways and telegraphs. There was also that whole Charge of the Light Brigade fuckery (really, it was a major fuck up) that had the Brits demanding there be less fuckery and more professionalism.

Florence Nightingale came to epitomize that professionalism.

Nightingale was born to a wealthy and influential British family, which in the 19^th century meant she was destined to marry and start popping out aristocratic babies. In 1844 she said whatever the patrician version of “fuck that” is and entered nursing studies instead, much to her family’s chagrin.

In 1854, reports from the war in Crimea revealed to the British the horrific conditions for their wounded soldiers. Nightingale took a staff of 38 volunteers that she had trained—all women—plus 15 Catholic nuns, and deployed toward the Black Sea.

The place was a fucking mess. That’s why so many were dying: horrific sanitation. She cleaned shit up, literally. There were overflowing sewers and a lack of ventilation, resulting in far more men dying from cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and typhus than from wounds sustained in battle. Her direct work and influence led to greatly improved cleanliness and conditions in healthcare settings, and the death rate plummeted. She became a national hero.

The Nightingale Fund was established for the training of nurses, and there was no shortage of generous donations. After the war, Florence used the money to establish the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. It still exists today, as the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing.

There is a reason why her birthday is celebrated as International Nurses Day. If you are a nurse, have an awesome day!

Get the book On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.