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Yosemite Romance Writers
www.yosemiteromancewriters.com

Friend and author Stacey Kayne
www.staceykayne.com

Check out The Love Struck Novice
www.thelovestrucknovice.blogspot.com

My friend Micole’s blog about writing romance
www.micolewritesromance.blogspot.com

Friend and author Debra Salonen
www.debrasalonen.com

Friend and author Sharon Lathan
www.darcysaga.net

Friend, author and critique group partner Howard Hurtt
www.hurttliterary.com

My Most Memorable Nursing Moment

Years ago I was on duty in Emergency when a man and his wife arrived by ambulance at 2 A.M.  For many years she had suffered with Scleroderma, a connective tissue disease, and now was dying.  Although Suzy and Dan (not their real names) anticipated this night, Dan found the reality difficult to cope with.  He wanted Suzy’s passing to be as easy as possible for her, so he brought her to the hospital.  He left their young son at home with a friend; their daughter was in Europe serving as a missionary.

I had never seen a person in such an advanced stage of this disease.  She appeared petrified – her skin leathery and firm to the touch, unable to speak, and unable to move any joint in her body.  She communicated by moving the only part of her still under her command – her eyelids.  By watching her eye movements, blinks, and the emotion he saw in her eyes, Dan knew what Suzy said.

Suzy’s person was immaculate.  Her light brown hair was attractively styled, her makeup perfect.  Her nails and toenails were manicured and polished.  She wore beautiful jewelry, and she smelled wonderful.

Dan stroked her face and told her over and over how he loved her.  He moistened her lips with gentle fingers, and cried without any sign of self-consciousness.  They cried together.  In my thirty years of nursing, I have never witnessed an outpouring of love to compare.  He stayed at Suzy’s side as her breathing grew increasingly shallow, until her lungs ceased their movement.

When Suzy’s eyes closed for the final time, I directed him to the Quiet Room.  Several times I had encouraged him to call a friend or his pastor, but he had declined.  It was very early Sunday morning, and he knew his pastor would be preparing for church services that morning.  He did not want to bring a friend out in the middle of the night either, so he was alone.

He spoke of his many wonderful years with his wife, and how he would tell their children of her passing.  I held his hand and listened.  His strong grip conveyed how much he needed me.  He smiled a little, his mouth tremulous. “In your whole life, you just never imagine you could go though something like this . . . and the only person with you . . . is a complete stranger,” Dan said. “And that that person could mean so much.”

He thanked me with words, but his touch and expression thanked me more than words ever could.  I feel privileged to have been present, helping this man get through what was probably the most acute crisis of his life.  And I feel blessed to have witnessed Suzy and Dan’s expressions of love that night.  I am so fortunate to be a nurse.

A Short History of a Phenomenal Woman
Florence Nightingale     
May 12, 1820 – August 13, 1910

When Florence Nightingale turned twelve, her wealthy father took over her education. Women weren’t permitted to attend college, but under the tutelage of her exacting father Florence received the equivalent of an Edinburgh and Cambridge education. She was a serious scholar, studying Roman, French, German, Italian and Turkish history, English political and constitutional history, composition, mathematics, philosophy, ethics, grammar, and the Bible.  Fluent in six languages and accustomed to engaging in philosophical discussions with her father, she became comfortable in a man’s world.  She translated parts of Plato and was captivated by his proposal of a society in which women could have roles equal to men’s.

Just sixteen, Florence’s life changed when she heard what she described as the voice of God, and for a few minutes knew His direct presence.  Biographers have likened this to Joan of Arc’s calling. Florence kept this momentous event secret.

The next year Florence traveled to Italy with her family. Considered to be gay, charming and entertaining, she was much admired by men.  She appeared elegant and distinguished and was widely and deeply read. She preferred the company of men, feeling women were uninteresting.

Upon her return to England she decided the vocation God had called her to was nursing the sick. She began caring for the sick in the nearby village, which horrified her family. Ladies might care for sick family members, but no one else.

Her friends were intellectuals, reformers, people of international repute. She formed a friendship with Richard Milnes, a remarkable and socially prominent man. They had similar interests and views and were soon in love.

The same year she met Richard she learned of an institution in Germany, Kaiserswerth, which offered training for nurses. There were few such places in the world and none in England. It was respectable, so her family couldn’t totally dismiss it, but they wouldn’t approve of her going. It took her six years to even partially convince them.  Hospitals then were revolting -- filthy, foul and stinking.  The nurses slept in the wards with their patients. No woman of character would ever sleep in such a place and most nurses were prostitutes and drunkards.

Florence became depressed. She’d kept journals all her life, and wrote, “forgive me, oh Lord, and let me die, this day let me die.”  She believed God was punishing her for her unworthiness to do his work.  Life seemed meaningless and acting like a dutiful daughter sickened her both mentally and physically.

In 1848 Richard Milnes, who had been pursuing her for seven years, gave her an ultimatum. She told him “no”. Later she was to write that although she loved Richard, she could not see how she could be married and still do the work God had called her to. Her parents were furious when she refused Milnes, which only increased the tension at home.

With a family friend she traveled to Egypt and Greece. While in Egypt God spoke to her again -- a highpoint of her life. On her way home she briefly stopped at Kaiserswerth. Wherever she traveled, Florence gathered information on hospitals. When friends traveled, they sent her reports on matters related to care of the sick. Florence came to know more about hospitals and hospital reform (including design) than almost anyone living.

Finally, to save her sanity, Florence decided to go back to Kaiserswerth for three months.  A horrible family row ensued, her mother and sister in hysterics.

Florence left the next day. While at Kaiserswerth Florence asked for her family’s blessing. They withheld it. They kept Florence’s trip a secret, and when she returned would not speak to her.

Then a friend suggested Florence be appointed superintendent of a newly reorganized Institution for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen. Because of her youth, she was required to bring a mature housekeeper with her. Finally Florence received some support from her father. He gave her an allowance of 500 pounds a year. Florence was thirty-three years old.

Miss Nightingale dug in a bit more energetically than the charitable ladies who hired her had intended.  Florence insisted on admitting any sick and poor woman, regardless of faith.

In 1854 England and France declared war on Russia. Thanks to the telegraph, the public had news from the Crimea published within one day. Following a horrible battle at Sebastopol over a thousand men filled the hospital and overflowed into the barracks. They had no beds, furniture or equipment.  The public was outraged when conditions were reported in the Times.

Sidney Herbert, Secretary of State at War, was a friend of Florence. He appointed her Superintendent of Hospitals in Turkey. Four days later Florence sailed for Scutari with thirty-eight nurses. Florence was thirty-four years old.

She found conditions beyond description. Four-thousand patients getting little to eat but small amounts of poorly cooked meat. A sea of mud outside. Filth. Rats everywhere. Stagnant sewers, privies stopped up and twenty chamberpots for one-thousand men with dysentery and cholera. There were maggots, lice and hardly any blankets. The wounded lay in their filthy shirts.

Florence and her nurses worked tirelessly, cleaning up Barrack Hospital and improving conditions, diets and care for the men. Back in England she became a household name, and the public support gave her political clout. She flooded government officials with mail, eventually succeeding in ironing out the bureaucratic tangles that blocked the delivery of supplies. The soldiers revered her.

For every man killed of wounds in the Crimea, seven died of preventable illness. Florence contracted a fever. She became very ill but refused to leave. She was still weak and underweight when the war ended and she quietly returned to England. She was now thirty-six years old. For the remainder of her life she would suffer from chronic pain, insomnia and a variety of other symptoms.

Bedridden or confined to a couch, Florence worked on hospital reform, health reform for the army and hospital design.  She wrote and published and sat on a number of government commissions.  Her hotel (the Burlington) became known as the Little War Office.  A constant stream of people came and went, working from Florence’s apartment. Still frail, Florence prepared a summary of her Notes on the British Army and illustrated her data with colored circles, squares and wedges, a technique she pioneered.

The Nightingale School of Nursing opened June 1860 at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London with eleven nurse probationers.  Due to her illness, Flo worked behind the scenes with management. (By 1910 the Nightingale Model of nurses training was established in twenty countries.  There were one-thousand programs in U.S. alone.)

From collecting disease and surgical data for the army, Florence moved to the health of the general population.  She redesigned the census form.  She believed statistics would play a major role in improving public health and society in general. She was the first to show how information released to the press could shape public opinion and improve health.

Florence remained active until the last few years of her life when she grew confused and blind. She died in 1910 at age ninety.

 

A newly discovered photograph of Florence Nightingale in the grounds of her home, Embley Park, Hampshire is seen in this undated handout image released by The Florence Nightingale Museum Trust August 6, 2006. The album containing the photograph will go on display at the Florence Nightingale Museum from August 7 until November 7, 2006. [Reuters]