Monday, June 4, 2012

Centenary of International Nurses Day


The year 2012 marks the Centenary of International Nurses Day. The profession of nursing was started by Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a British nursing pioneer who established the first school of modern nursing. In honour of the significant contribution that Nightingale, reputed as the “Lady of the Lamp”, made in nursing, her birthday May 12, is celebrated worldwide as the International Nurses Day, aiming to advocate, inherit, and promote the pioneer’s humanistic spirit of overcoming difficulties to help the sick and wounded through dedication and sacrifice. China National Philatelic Corporation issued an FDC with special 1.20 Yuan stamp to commemorate this Day. My friend Cloud sent me this cover from China.
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night. An Anglican, Nightingale believed that God had called her to be a nurse. Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment, in 1860, of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London, the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of King's College London. The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honour, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.

No comments:

Post a Comment