Written by Naina Singh, a grade 6 student.

Today, 12^th May 2020 is Florence Nightingales 200^th birth anniversary. In times of a pandemic her role becomes even more important. Let me tell you why.

Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing. What does that mean? This means that she was the person who introduced modern day nursing. During the Crimean war, she served as a manager and trainer of nurses. In this time period she introduced many sanitary methods of nursing. She also got the nickname, “The lady with a lamp” as she would always go and check on the patients at night to make sure that they were fine. She was the first healthcare professional to use data to show that infection control improved health outcomes. She also stressed on some extremely important practices like washing our hands that are considered compulsory.

So, who was Florence Nightingale? Let me tell you a little bit about her background.

Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 to an affluent British family. She was highly skilled in mathematics and wanted to be a mathematician. In those times girls (especially rich ones) were expected to marry well and have children, not go out and work, so her mother disapproved of her being a mathematician. So, she decided to be a nurse. This did not make her parents happy either as it was not considered a good profession, but Florence became a nurse and made a big difference.

The irony is that now, when her methods are most helping us the museum honouring her in London has announced that it is hard to keep it up and has launched fundraising schemes to save itself.  

Coronavirus has ruined all our plans to honour her 200^th birth anniversary and is now threatening part of her legacy.

Written by Naina Singh

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