Florence Nightingale

By Morgan Spriggle

Why is this person important?

Florence Nightingale reformed the management of hospitals in the United Kingdom during the Crimean War. Along with the help of a team of other nurses, she helped to change the way hospitals were run and improved the horribly unsanitary conditions that took place at the British base hospital she was working at during the war. Her actions helped to reduce the death toll in the hospital by two thirds, simply by creating and maintaining a sanitary environment for the patients and preventing them from getting deadly infections.

Why did you choose this person? How does her/his life relate to you?

I chose Florence because in her time it was rare for women to be so influential. To me, it’s inspiring that she went out and did what she did, simply because she wanted to help people. It takes a very brave woman from that time period to do that and she’s a very respectable woman because of it.

If she/he had never existed, would the world be different from how we know it now? Why?

Florence’s writings that she did sparked a healthcare reform worldwide and she also made nursing a respected profession, however, I feel even without her these things still would have taken place. Although Florence was the one to cause these actions to take place, I feel like eventually it would have happened anyway, just not as soon. After a while, somebody else would have realized that more sanitary conditions were necessary and this reform would have taken place anyway.

If you could meet that person, what would you ask her/him?

If I could meet Florence, I would ask her what it was like to be a woman at the time and how difficult it was for her to make the decision to go out and try and make a change, even if nobody believed in you simply because of your gender.

 Do you think the fact this person was Italian played a role in his/her achievement?

I do not believe that Florence’s Italian background played a large role in her achievement. In fact, she did most of her work in other parts of Europe and I feel that no matter where she was from, she may have went out and done this anyway.