You can’t have missed that this is Florence Nightingale Foundation’s 90th anniversary year. In this update news story you can find out more about our ’90 at 90′ campaign, meet two mother and daughter nurses involved, and win tickets to attend a special anniversary event later this year.
Our roots are developed from the International Council of Nurses: the Florence Nightingale International Foundation was established on 5 July 1934 as a memorial to Florence Nightingale and her work, and both organisations have grown from this.
We have evolved so much over the past 90 years, especially with the launch of the FNF Academy in 2020. However, our focus on the importance of nursing and midwifery leadership, to improve care and save lives, has not changed.
Our ‘FNF 90 at 90’ campaign has been running throughout this year to celebrate the thousands of nurses and midwives we have supported over the years. In our 90th anniversary year we are shining a light on 90 members of the FNF Alumni and our community, who carry out a wide variety of roles. They are sharing their thoughts on the importance of strong leadership and on how FNF has had an impact on themselves, their teams, and ultimately on their patients and the communities in which they serve.
The campaign will be running until the end of this year: we are now excited to unveil the collage above showing all 90 nurses and midwives.
Nurses like Linda Havard and her mother, Margaret Walker. Linda is an FNF Scholar and her mother Margaret, now 91, also qualified as a nurse 70 years ago. Hear from Linda about her and her mother’s nursing journeys.
“During the important FNF 90 at 90 campaigns, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a poem that my mother wrote about Florence Nightingale, someone who has had an influence on both of us. We found it as we were sorting through her things prior to her moving into a care home.
My mum is a retired Nurse and HV, she commenced her nursing career aged 16 as a Pre-Probationer at Ripley Cottage Hospital and Derby City Hospital. She then came to Liverpool and on to Clatterbridge Hospital, Cheshire to undertake her SRN training in 1951, where she met my father who was a doctor. I followed my mum on to become a nurse, starting my training at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1978. I am now back in Liverpool working as Chief Nursing Information Officer for Liverpool University Hospitals NHS FT (LUHFT). Part of LUHFT is Aintree University Hospital (formerly Fazakerley Hospital) where my mum also worked as Ward Sister in the 1970s. Being accepted as a Florence Scholar this year has linked so many things together for me within my career and finding this poem by my mum, closed so many circles for us. Mum’s nursing career remains at the forefront of her memory, she often goes back to those early days of her career, leaving home in Derbyshire to go to Liverpool at 18 to start her nurse training and meeting my father.
We are both proud to be part of these important 90th celebrations for Florence Nightingale, especially me being a Florence Scholar. In our own way we have both been at the forefront of some innovative nursing developments during our respective nursing careers.”
You can find out who the other ’90 at 90’ nurses and midwives are by following us on social media and searching #FNF90at90. Or by examining the image above: spot anyone you know?
Win a pair of tickets to a special 90th anniversary evening reception
Help us continue with our work supporting nurses and midwives for many more years to come.
As part of our 90th anniversary year we have a fundraising campaign, and are aiming to raise £90,000 by the end of this year. Please help us to reach this target by donating to our anniversary campaign.
Anyone who donates between now and 27 October will be entered into a random draw to win a pair of tickets to a special 90th anniversary evening reception event we are hosting at the Florence Nightingale museum in London on 28 November.
