The most important profession and one that has consistently been ranked as one of the most trusted practices in the United States has been nursing. The foundations of nursing were laid by one of the greatest figures nursing history has ever had, Florence Nightingale. Florence helped shape modern nursing into what it is today in several ways. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Florence is often called by her well-earned nickname, The Mother of Nursing, but during her lifetime she took on other infamous names such as The Lady with the Lamp and The Crimean Angel. Florence was born in 1820 to a wealthy family, in Italy. She was born into a wealthy traditional family, but from the beginning of her life she showed that she would not follow the social model of other women in this society. Women were considered intellectually inferior to men, and education for women during this era was more like lessons in dancing, etiquette, music, manners, painting, and needlework, but her father, William Nightingale, helped stimulate her curious mind by teaching it in ancient and modern languages, history, composition, philosophy and statistics. Florence rejected a proposal from suitable and respectable gentlemen and therefore rejected the usual path of wealthy Victorian women that included marriage, children and housework to pursue her true calling, nursing. Florence was 31 when her father complained and granted her permission to study in Germany as a student at the Fliedner Lutheran Hospital in Kaiserworth. Her parents were against her becoming a nurse because during the Victorian period nursing was considered a job suitable only for the lower classes. Florence rejected a marriage proposal from a suitable gentleman named Richard Milnes when she was 17 because although he interested her "romantically and intellectually, his active moral nature demands satisfaction, and this she would not find in this life." After finishing her training, Florence returned to London and started working as a nurse in a hospital and was promoted to supervisor in less than a year due to her extraordinary character and work ethic. Florence was grappling with unsanitary conditions and a cholera epidemic that provided an ideal environment for rapid spread of the disease. Florence took this as a personal mission to greatly improve these conditions and significantly reduce the mortality rate. Florence was later called upon by Sidney Herbert, Secretary of War, to organize a team of exceptional nurses to care for the fallen and sick soldiers of the Crimean War. Florence quickly accepted the challenge and assembled an exceptional team of over 30 nurses and set sail for Crimea. Once the team arrived, Florence immediately set to work improving the unsanitary conditions and recruited her team, as well as some of the less injured patients, to clean the hospital from top to bottom and personally roam the corridors at night serving patient care, thus earning her nickname “the lady with the lamp.” Florence established many patient services such as a patient kitchen, laundry, classroom and library. Florence's hard work and innovative thinking did not go unnoticed and she was welcomed home with an engraved brooch from the Queen and money from the government, which she used to further promote her cause of improved care and hospitals. Additionally, with the funds, he officially founded St. Thomas,.