2010 IYNurse

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On April 25, 2010, A Global Service Commemorating Nightingale & Nursing was celebrated by an overflowing audience at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. UPPER ROW: from left: upward view of the Cathedral arches & stained glass windows. Middle: Keynote by Dr. Leslie Mancuso, President & CEO, JHPIEGO. MIDDLE: Stephanie Williams, then International Director, Canadian Student Nurses Association lights the ceremonial candle with Rear-Admiral Kerry Paige Nesseler, Assistant Surgeon General; Chief Nursing Officer, US Public Health Service; RIGHT: Cathedral Stained Glass Window dedicated to Florence Nightingale. LOWER: Service honored the 8 UN Millennium Development Goals, from left: Banners representing Goal #1 End Poverty & Hunger, Goal # 2 Universal Education, Goal # 3 Gender Equality & Goal # 4 Child Mortality; Candlelighting by Dr. Karen Morin, then President, Sigma Theta Tau International Honorary Society of Nurses, Banners representing MDGs # 4 & # 5 Maternal Health. Photos of Cathedral Arches & Windows from NIGH Archives by Dionne Sinclair. Photos of Service cropped from Commemorative Service Webcast available for download here >>.

Celebrated Across the World!

This 2010 Commemorative Service was one of many related events and remembrances celebrated across the world.

For instance, in South Africa, DENOSA placed a tall two-story banner to wrap around the circular window entrance to their headquarters building in Pretoria. DENOSA's post on the 2010 IYNurse website read: "DENOSA— Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa —is a vigorous, dynamic, responsive member-driven organisation. We understand the unique dynamics of nurses, midwives/accoucheurs and nursing and provide specialised expertise to address individual and collective professional and union issues. This banner was created to sensitize nurses and the public at large that 2010 is the International Year of the Nurse.” You can reach Nombuso Madonda, DENOSA's International Relations Coordinator, at nombusom@denosa.org.za To visit the DENOSA, click here >>

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In an another example, South Korea created a 2010 IYNurse design, officially printed beside a Nightingale postage stamp and released to the South Korean public, to honor Florence Nightingale and her 2010 Centennial. Both of these designs are also featured with the montage of Nightingale Signature e-Postcards on this website's homepage.

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If you would like us to feature photos, texts and links remembering your 2010 IYNurse event, please contact us.

Celebrating the Florence Nightingale Centennial:
How the 2010 International Year of the Nurse Began

The vision for the 2010 International Year of the Nurse [2010 IYNurse] began, in 2000, as NIGH's original founders noted that the Centennial of Nightingale's death would occur in 2010. We wondered, what would be the best way to remember her legacy in the 21st century? Thus, a 2010 International Year of the Nurse website was created and online until recently. The content is being uploaded, over time — in different formats — to this new NIGH site.

From our broadened understanding of Florence Nightingale's life and insights, NIGH's founders noted how Nightingale's famous work established an effective social activism that continued for decades. Beyond her further work to establish modern secular nursing, Nightingale accomplished much more. Following the Crimean War, after she nursed wounded and dying soldiers, Nightingale also brought significant sanitation reforms to miliatry and civilian hospitals. Later, she influenced national leaders across the world to be concerned with the health, education and overall well-being of their people. As an ardent environmental activist, she pro-actively sought to change conditions — on both local and global scales — to support health. She was a great public communicator and networker, a best-selling author and health journalist who also wrote thousands of letters to friends and colleagues around the world. She called these activities “Health Nursing.”

Features Focus

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In 2008 & 2009, Asoka Roy’s family created a Platinum Sponsorship of the Nightingale Declaration Campaign to honor the memory of their sister — a pioneering nurse & midwife in both India & the United States. Projects developed from this contribution included an India-wide outreach of the Nightingale Declaration dedicated to Asoka’s memory.
See: An Indian Nightingale
Generous Support of Drs. Rustum & Della Roy