the big
picture.
TheWorldHealthOrganisationhadlong
since designated 2020 International Year of
the Nurse and Midwife in honour of Florence
Nightingale, who was born 200 years ago
on May 12.
Temporary hospitals across the country,
taking Nightingale’s name, are prepared for
an influx of patients. Meanwhile, the Florence
Nightingale Museum, which had planned
a series of events to mark her bicentenary,
remains closed until further notice and is itself
fighting for survival, relying as it does on ticket
admissions. This lamp, which Florence used in
Turkey, was one of the exhibits. The museum is
situated at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital, the
same site where Nightingale herself was based,
and where the Prime Minister was recently
treated for coronavirus.
Throughout her 90-year life the pioneering
medical practitioner pushed for better hygiene
and evidence-based nursing after her time
tending casualties from the Crimean War. The
data she gathered verified that nearly 10 times
as many British soldiers died of disease than in
combat, and that deaths dropped dramatically
once hospitals were cleaned up.
Her legacy remains a light that shines in our
dark times.
#Nightingale
florence-nightingale.co.ukLADY WITH
THE LAMP
16 | BIGISSUE.COM 30 APRIL-06 MAY 2020