NIGH's History Part 1 — “We the nurses and concerned citizens...”
A pioneer of online technology for nurses & midwives, NIGH's global outreach began with the online 'Nightingale Declaration for a Healthy World' — opening with: 'We the nurses and concerned citizens of the global community...' on NIGH's original website >>> This site recorded over 22,000 online signatures from 106 nations — ever-expanding to over 1.5 million hits in 2012.
NIGH was one of the co-founders of the ‘2010 International Year of the Nurse’ — encouraging nurses worldwide to celebrate the 2010 Florence Nightingale Centennial by sharing their concerns for global health and advocate for all of eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Pictured at the left is Dr. Cynda Rushton — one of the principle collaborators of the 2010 International Year — who is now the distinguished 'Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics' in the Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University, with a joint appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics. Photo from NIGH's Archives.
Across our first years, NIGH's leaders also participated — in Lusaka, Zambia (2008) and Geneva, Switzerland (2009) — in WHO ‘Consultation(s) for Strengthening Nursing & Midwifery’ and the WHO Global Forum of Chief Nursing & Midwifery Officers in 2006 and for the new ‘Report on Nurses & Midwives in WHO’ in 2015. NIGH representatives have also presented at Civil Society Development Forums directly aligned to UN Economic & Social Councils (ECOSOC) in Geneva (2009) for Global Health and in New York City ( 2010) Gender Equity.
NIGH was one of the co-founders of the ‘2010 International Year of the Nurse’ — encouraging nurses worldwide to celebrate the 2010 Florence Nightingale Centennial by sharing their concerns for global health and advocate for all of eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Pictured at the left is Dr. Cynda Rushton — one of the principle collaborators of the 2010 International Year — who is now the distinguished 'Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics' in the Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University, with a joint appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics. Photo from NIGH's Archives.
Across our first years, NIGH's leaders also participated — in Lusaka, Zambia (2008) and Geneva, Switzerland (2009) — in WHO ‘Consultation(s) for Strengthening Nursing & Midwifery’ and the WHO Global Forum of Chief Nursing & Midwifery Officers in 2006 and for the new ‘Report on Nurses & Midwives in WHO’ in 2015. NIGH representatives have also presented at Civil Society Development Forums directly aligned to UN Economic & Social Councils (ECOSOC) in Geneva (2009) for Global Health and in New York City ( 2010) Gender Equity.
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A United Nations Tribute to Florence Nightingale at Scutari Barracks
The beginnings of NIGH can be traced back to the United Nations Human Settlements Summit (1996) in Istanbul, where an 'International Tribute to Florence Nightingale' was convened at 'Scutari Barracks' — the actual site where Nightingale began her famous work during the Crimean War. For that Tribute, a new 'Nightingale Prayer' was created and has been
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widely used and circulated ever since. The image — above left — is from that Tribute, in NIGH's archives.
Then NIGH became the direct outgrowth of a collective dream — first shared in 1999, in London, UK, by three Nightingale scholars — Dr. Barbara Dossey, Dr. Louise Selanders and Dr. Deva-Marie Beck — as they prepared to publish new research that later became the textbook Florence Nightingale Today: Healing, Leadership, Global Action. In preparation for the new millennium, these three — who also co-founded NIGH — asked themselves “what would Nightingale have done with email, fax machines and the brand new 'world- wide-web?” Now we ask, "what would Nightingale have done with YouTube & Social Media?” Read more >>
Then NIGH became the direct outgrowth of a collective dream — first shared in 1999, in London, UK, by three Nightingale scholars — Dr. Barbara Dossey, Dr. Louise Selanders and Dr. Deva-Marie Beck — as they prepared to publish new research that later became the textbook Florence Nightingale Today: Healing, Leadership, Global Action. In preparation for the new millennium, these three — who also co-founded NIGH — asked themselves “what would Nightingale have done with email, fax machines and the brand new 'world- wide-web?” Now we ask, "what would Nightingale have done with YouTube & Social Media?” Read more >>
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NIGH's Early Inspiration
One of the earliest inspirations for NIGH centered around the iconic Florence Nightingale Stained-Glass Window sited at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. This is where the first Nightingale Service — commemorating her official designation on the Episcopal Church Calendar — was convened in 2001. At this same Cathedral, two additional such Nightingale Services have been commemorated in 2004 and 2010 — the International Year of the Nurse /
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Florence Nightingale Centennial. The image — above left — is taken the 'Crimea' panel of this Window, from NIGH's archives. See & learn more about these scenes — highlighted with a composite graphic from six scenes — featured from panels in this Nightingale Stained-Glass Window — that illustrate Nightingale's legacy for today.