marriage proposal, to which Nightingale responded, “…that while he stimulated her intellectually and romantically, her “moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in this life” (Florence Nightingale, 2009). In 1844, Nightingale enrolled in nursing school. At 17, her sheer independent will and complete disinterest in conforming to the values that which surrounded her all her life allowed her to take the first step towards her goals. She knew that the stereotypical elitist lifestyle wasn’t for her, and rebelled against this idea of a woman catering to her husband’s needs and not her own. Her independence allowed her to carve a path that would soon change the ways society viewed women and the medical field.
Following the Crimean war, Nightingale returned home and was greeted and treated as a hero. She received $250,000 from the British government as well as a brooch from the Queen herself. She used the money to open St. Thomas’ Hospital, and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses, located within the hospital itself (Florence Nightingale, 2009). Women of the wealthier classes strived to follow in her footsteps, and enrolled in the training school to learn from her. “Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon by the upper classes; it had, in fact, come to be viewed as an honorable vocation” (Florence Nightingale, 2009). This wasn’t the end of her legacy, however; in 1859, she wrote Notes on Hospitals, about how to properly operate and run hospitals. Additionally, throughout the Civil War, she was consulted many times on how to manage field hospitals, and also served as an authoritative figure for India on public sanitation issues, despite never visiting India (Florence Nightingale, 2009).
Nightingale’s primary goal wasn’t to be a leader, but rather to answer her calling from God which was to reduce human suffering. As discussed by Drew Dudley, during his Ted Talk, we often don’t realize when our actions influence others in a great way. Her drive and initiative to make changes to the workings of the medical field resulted in a worldwide societal and medical reform that has shaped th
