Lesa Scholl
17 March 2025
The current war in Ukraine makes tangible the work of Florence Nightingale in the 19th-century Crimean War.
The Lady with the Lamp is an iconic figure of the resilience and determination of nurses under the most dire and dangerous circumstances.
Nightingale served as a nurse in Scutari during the war that raged from 1853 to 1856.
She is less known for her later work in public health and sanitation, and almost not at all for her work as a theologian, both of which were influenced by her time in a war zone.
Right now, critical care in conflict zones is suffering because the United States has withdrawn from the World Health Organisation and dismantled USAID according to the International Council of Nurses.
ICN chief executive Howard Catton’s statement on the role of nurses was reminiscent of Nightingale.
“As peacemakers, nurses play a critical role in healing wounds – both physical and societal – helping to rebuild trust and stability in war-torn areas,” he said.
Nursing Association of Ukraine president Tetyana Chernyshenko called on the ICN to help improve the psychosocial state of Ukrainian nurses.
“There are no safe places for nurses,” she said.
Read more: Stress and poor mental health affect displaced aid workers
Many are familiar with the romanticised image of the Lady of the Lamp, but forget the real dangers she faced working in a war-torn area in the same region, also due to Russian invasion, more than 170 years ago.
The hospital was overcrowded and unclean. The blocked drains meant that the floors were covered in excrement.
There were not enough beds, blankets, medicines or food, nor were there sufficient medical staff. More soldiers died from infection because of the dirty hospital than from their war injuries.
These conditions resonate with the malnutrition and want in present-day Ukraine and other conflict zones around the world as medical professionals persist in their determined care, even when the number of injured and ill seems only to increase.
After returning to London, Nightingale struggled with what would now be understood as PTSD. But she also continued her extraordinary work as a prominent social and public health reformer, statistician and theologian.
Nightingale became increasingly reclusive and bed-ridden. She likely suffered from Brucellosis, or “Mediterranean Fever,” contracted in the war zone, which can lead to joint and muscle pain, fever and fatigue.
Despite her health, Nightingale used her time in bed productively.
She was compelled by her experiences to develop policies and strategies around sanitation. Some historians credit her with developing the 1875 Public Health Act in Britain, which regulated sewage, water and drainage systems.
Read more: An outstanding book, exemplifying the role of Christian health professionals
In 1859, Nightingale wrote a significant theological work, Suggestions for thought to searchers after religious truth among the artisans of England.
Nightingale’s theology came from brutally lived experience.
There is greater understanding now about the need to care for the psychosocial wellbeing of health workers in conflict zones. This understanding could not have grown without Nightingale’s life and work.
What was remarkable about Nightingale’s theology was the entwining of statistical science, public health, mental wellbeing, social duty and faith.
For Nightingale, theology’s purpose was health and well-being. Her practical faith emphasised the importance of being God’s hands and feet in the world.
In a recent interview about the Anglican hospital Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, Anglican Overseas Aid chief executive Jo Knight said the hospital workers were Christ’s hands and feet.
She spoke of the continued hope of the workers in the crowded hospital meeting the increasing needs of people.
For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Instagram, or subscribe to our weekly emails.
