EMBERS: THE TALE OF THE LADY WITH A LAMP

(An HPM Presentation)

Introduction: (In a makeshift hospital in the middle of the Crimean War at night, a lady with a low lit
lamp walks across a hall full of wounded soldiers)
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FN: (against a black background and soft tone instrumental music) Im going to tell you something about
my life, my name is Florence Nightingale and I was born in the year 1820 in Italy and was named after a
great city there. But I grew up in England in a large country house. The story I will tell you starts when I
was still a girl. When I imagined the kind of life that I would lead. And when I got hold of the idea that I
might do something with my life---- I wouldnt let it go

(Little girl FN with her sister in a study room with their father teaching them)
FN: I grew up with my sister Parphenophe, she was also named after an Italian town. We were a wealthy
family and my father insisted on educating us himself. From a young age I love to read and I wanted to
learn. I was neat, orderly and like everything to be on its proper place.
(PN getting FNs pencil on the study table and FN getting irritated. *murmurs)
My sister, on the other hand, just wants to play around. During lessons, she did her best to distract me.
(FN got the pencil back and place it in a line but PN destroys the arrangement. *murmurs)
Father: Girls! Could you please focus on the subject at hand!
FN: But I would not be distracted. I had this idea that I would do something with my life and I wouldnt let
it go.

(Nightingale sisters in the backyard of their large estate FN holding a book but her sister keeps on
distracting her)
FN: Wherever I was, I was only happy with a book in my hand, much to my sisters frustration.

(At the nightingale estate gathering, after her parents introduced her and her sister to the guests she
immediately goes to a corner to read.)
One male guest with his wife: You have a rather odd child there.
The guests wife: Yes, a strange little girl who is unlike any other.
Father (with Mother looking at FN): Well shes just interested in some other things.
FN: They said I was a bookworm. But I knew I was more than that. I knew even then that I didnt want to
be like other girls.
(FN constantly reading one book at a time. [One scene] Little FN covers her face with a book reading then
when she finishes shes older and in their study room.)
FN: I grew up with my head in books and over time I formed a very clear idea of what I wanted to do.
What I wanted to do was work. And the work that I wanted to do was Nursing.

(Family of FN in the living room mad over her for her decision of becoming a nurse.)
Father: I forbid it!
Mother: What would the other families think? Knowing that a lady from the Nightingale estate is just a
NURSE!
Sister: What made you even think of being a nurse? They work with sick people and the place where they
are working are always filthy and full of flies!
Mother: This is not the kind of life we wanted for you!
Father: Why wouldnt you want to find one fine charming young fellow and settle down?! Its just simple!
Nurse?! Pffft!
FN: My family didnt approve of what they expected of me. All they thought of to aim for with my life was
to find a respectable man to marry me. I knew that becoming a wife and mother would never be enough.
I had this idea that I would do something with my life and I wouldnt let it go.

(In the study room constantly reading books.)

FN: I stuck to my books and refused to give in. I would not change my course. At that time nurses got no
training at all, but I had other ideas. So long as my father refuse to let me work, I stuck to my books.
Refining my ideas on how I would teach nurses to help the sick. Eventually I got the chance that all these
years Id been waiting for.

(Line-up of nurses with wet towels on one hand and clean white sheets on the other.)
FN: Okay ladies lets see what youve learned.
I was task to train a team of nurses to work at the Crimea. A place far away where there is a war. There
was a hospital there near a battlefield where injured soldiers were brought in but were rarely getting
better. I train my nurses in fundamental principles of cleanliness and hygiene. I wanted them neat and
orderly and everything just so.

(FN and other nurses packing their stuff and travelling to Crimea.)
FN: Soon we were packed and ready to leave for a war thats happening so far away. In a country most of
my girls have never even heard of. Even I had a little apprehension not so much on what we might find
but because this was my chance to prove my worth as a nurse.

(FN and nurses arrived at the hospital through a boat).

FN: The journey to Turkey took several weeks. We arrived and it was hot. (Walking towards the hospital.)
The hospital itself was in a shell of an old army fort close to the battle field. As we walked towards it, I
didnt quite know what we would find. Whatever we had imagined, this was worst. (FN and other nurses
surprised to see wounded, filthy and smelly soldiers howling for pain.)
FN: The first thing to hit me was the smell. (The other nurses were feeling like vomiting but FN placed a
stern look to them.) The stench of sickness and filth. Soldiers lay on the floor in pools of blood. Undressed
wounds were covered in flies. (Soldiers were being put in one by one and placed on the floor). Sheets such
as their wear were covered in lice and maggots. It was a hell on earth!
I knew in an instant what needed to be done. (FN sees the doctor.) First, I had to persuade the doctor to
let us get to work. I knew what I wanted to do and I wouldnt let it go. (FN approaches the doctor.)
He resisted, (Doctor argues with FN.) but in the end, he said that things were getting so bad that he was
willing to let me try. (With a clap of a hand, FN instructs the nurses to work.) Here was my chance to prove
what I believe were the first principles of good nursing cleanliness and hygiene. I set my nurses to
cleaning every inch, every corner of the place. (Nurses walking in with brooms and buckets.)
First, we swept. I believe that when the wounded came to us they should expect not dirt and disease but
good food, clean sheets, fresh air and a chance for nature to heal their wounds.
Then, we scrub. That way we would be in charge. Order will prevail and health will be restored. I wouldnt
let my nurses rest until the place was spotless. I was strict with them and I suspect that they found me
rather stern.
Finally, we brought in fresh sheets. And once clean, the hospital will and should stay clean.
(Walking through a clean hospital hallway.)
FN: This was how I imagined it. Clean and hygienic and everything in its place. Now we could concentrate
on tending to the soldiers wounds and nursing them back to health.
(Every nurse attending to each soldier in the wards.)
FN: The change in the hospital was immediate. (Soldiers were slowly rising up from their beds. Some can
walk and eat.)
(At night, walking through the wards with a lamp.)
FN: I may have been stern with the nurses but at night I walked among the soldiers at the wards. I would
sit with them if they wanted or read to them or take their hand if they called out. After all, it was for them
that we were there at all. And I so wanted each of them to get better. And because of my lantern and my
nightly rounds, they started to call me THE LADY WITH THE LAMP.

(Soldiers walking out of the hospital. The doctor congratulating FN.)

FN: Soon we were rewarded for all our efforts. Soldiers that would have died before were getting better.
And some were able to leave their beds. It gave me such satisfaction to watch them leave. Id never felt
more complete.

(FN talking with a black background)

FN: After the war ended, I stayed until every last soldier were well enough to leave. When I got back to
England, I was astonished to find that I was famous.

(Back to England, were her family welcomes her and becomes introducing her to guests in gathering all
for her honor.)
FN: Not only were people talking about my work, but there was a trust fund that has been set up in my
honor. It was a good deal of money and I used it to start up the first ever Nurses Training School in London.
What I did changed nursing for good it became a real profession with strict principles and standards with
all the better for the entire nation. As a girl, I had decided that I would do something with my life. Im glad
that I took hold of that idea and that I never let it go.

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