The nursing profession dates back to well before World War I! Indeed, its first traces can be found across the ocean in the 1800s. And Florence Nightingale is the one who helped shaped nursing into what it is today.
Florence Nightingale: A Nursing Pioneer
Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820 and died on August 13, 1910 in London. She was a pioneer in the development of modern nursing. During the Crimean War (1853 to 1856), she witnessed the abject conditions at the British army’s military hospital. The degree of hygiene was horrible, and the death rate from disease was higher than that from combat. Her shock led her to implement many remedies to improve the sanitation in the barracks.
In 1860, she opened a school to provide structured medical training. The Nightingale Home and Training School for Nurses was established on July 9, 1860 at St. Thomas’s Hospital, which exists today at King’s College London as the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery. Through both her work and her school, Nightingale perfected the application of methods like statistics to make significant improvements to military care. In her honour, International Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12, the date of her birth.
The origins of the profession in Canada
Nursing in Canada has its roots in the days of New France, when the Augustinian nuns were the first to tend to the sick. Although nuns have not been in charge of hospitals since the 1960’s, they were a pillar of nursing for years and years, and their contribution must be acknowledged.
Before 1904, the organization of military medical care was somewhat improvised. However, women nurses’ assistance during various conflicts that the country was engaged in was both appreciated and welcomed.
In 1899, the general director of the medical services of the Canadian Army recommended the creation of an organized military nursing corps. His recommendation was accepted, and work to build the corps began in 1901. The Canadian Army Nursing Service was born. In 1904, the Canadian Army performed a comprehensive review of its medical services, which ended in a complete administrative overhaul. The Nursing Corps was then incorporated into the Reserves, a section of the armed forces made up of semi-permanent members who supported the regular sections during armed conflicts. A total of 25 nurses were chosen to be part of this service.
Impacts Today
For a long time, until 1941, the “Nursing Sisters” were the only women who served in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The practice of nursing in the CAF allowed women to carve out a place in a world previously reserved for men.
Today, Canada is a world leader in terms of the number of women in its military. Women play a central role in defending the country’s security. With the integration of its Nursing Corps, the CAF became one of the first armed forces to give officer status to nurses. The goal is to have women represent at least one in four members of the military’s different trades and ranks by 2026.
Article written by Emilie Bernier for Je Me Souviens. To know more about her work, check out her website : https://www.ebnumerique.ca/accueil. Translated by Amy Butcher (www.traductionsamyb.ca).
Sources:
- “Caregiving on the Front: The Experience of Canadian Military Nurses During World War I“, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada/Library and Archives Canada.
- “Des anges blancs sur le front : l’expérience de guerre des infirmières militaires canadiennes pendant la Première Guerre mondiale“, Bulletin d’histoire politique (in French).
- “Florence Nightingale“, Wikipedia.
- “Les religieuses augustines, les pionnières des soins de santé“, Le Soleil (in french).
- “Nurses“, Musée canadien de la guerre/Canadian War Museum.
- “Nursing Officer“, Gouvernement du Canada/Government of Canada.
- “Nursing Sisters and the Costs of War on Women“, L’encyclopédie canadienne/The Canadian Encyclopedia.
This article was published as part of our exhibition on the Canadian Nursing Sisters: They Cared: the Origins of Military Nursing. Visit our exhibition to learn more about the history of the Canadian women who participated in the First World War!
