On Tuesday RMUoHP received a 26 inch bronze casting of “Lady with the Lamp,” a statuette of nursing founder Florence Nightingale, which was originally sculpted by American artist, sculptor and anatomist Dr. Avard T. Fairbanks, courtesy of the Fairbanks family.
This statue was originally sculpted as a gift for the University of Utah College of Nursing in 1975, and the casting given to RMUoHP is one of only two 26-inch castings of the original. It portrays Miss Nightingale, the great founder of the modern day nursing profession, with a lantern in one hand, her writings in the other, on some nighttime errand of mercy.
Dr. David Fairbanks, the Medical Director for RMUoHP’s PA Program and the artist’s grandson unveiled the statue to an audience of RMUoHP Doctor of Nursing Practice students, faculty and staff and members of the Fairbanks family. He spoke lovingly of his grandfather’s legacy and love for nursing icon Florence Nightingale.
“If Florence had the desire to walk amongst us, and teach us… she would have all the right muscles there to do so.” Fairbanks said, “It’s not only the value of the metal that she’s made of, but the mettle in her soul and her character which so profoundly influenced the field of nursing.”
Florence Nightingale became famous during the Crimean War and was dubbed “The Lady With the Lamp” because she would walk through the wards of the hospital check on her patients throughout the night. Known as the founder of the nursing profession, Florence had a passion for improving healthcare and opened many nursing schools, her first being Thomas School of Nursing, which is now a part of King’s College in London. She was also the advisor for one of the first nursing training schools in the U.S., at Waltham Hospital in Waltham, Massachussets. She was also an avid writer and her 78 page booklet of notes on hospitals laid the foundation for how to publicly run a hospital in our day.
“She was ahead of her time in social reform,” said Dr. Marie-Eileen Onieal who also spoke at the ceremony, “She advocated for improving healthcare, improving sanitation and improving acceptable forms of employment and treatment of women.”
Florence’s nursing legacy is celebrated in many ways today. When entering the profession, nurses take the Nightingale Pledge, a statement similar to the Hippocratic Oath which describes the ethics and principles of the nursing profession and each year on May 12th, her birthday is celebrated as International Nurses Day.
“[The Lady with the Lamp Statue} has a particular significance to us because of Florence Nightingale’s influence on the nursing industry,” RMUoHP President Dr. Richard P. Nielsen said during the ceremony, “but even as a Physical Therapist, I know that in her early works there was even some influence in physical therapy and so it is very appropriate for us to be the recipient of [this statue] and to have it displayed very proudly at this University.”
The RMUoHP administration would like to express the utmost gratitude to the Fairbanks Family for this generous gift.
