2017-02-22 Wed

The 200th Birth anniversary of Zsuzsanna Kossuth is celebrated on special commemorative coins issued by Hungary. She was one of the pioneers of the nursing profession in Hungary. 5,000 .925 silver proof 10,000 forint 31.46 g coins and 6,000 copper-nickel 2,000 forint 30.80 g coins in uncirculated quality are available. The obverse features a military field hospital and the reserve depicts Kossuth's portrait. The Hungarian Nursing Association established an award to commemorate Zsuzsanna Kossuth in 1998. 19th February, her birth date was declared as the Day of Hungarian Nursing.

Born on 19th February 1817, Zsuzsanna Kossuth was the younger sister of the leader of the Revolution of 1848, Lajos Kossuth. The siblings worked together during the cholera epidemic of 1831 in Upper Hungary when she was trained in nursing for the first time.

On 16th April 1849, Lajos Kossuth named his sister as the "head nurse of all field hospitals". She founded 72 new hospitals within few months. Staffing and supplies were limited and women had to take care of wounded and sick when the men were out for war. Due to the shortage of nurses, she appealed Hungarian women to volunteer and care for the wounded and sick during the war. Many women joined the cause.

Apart from Physical care, she believed patients' psychological and emotional needs also have to be taken care of. She not only took care of Hungarian soldiers but also helped wounded Austrian and Russian soldiers without a second thought.

She also started offering professional training for nurses. The revolution failed and her plans were never realised. Even then, the fundamentals of nursing established by Zsuzsanna Kossuth were preserved. The nursing system introduced by her was the finest in Europe at that time.

After the revolution was lost, she went to Belgium and then to the U.S.A., where she lived a life of poverty and illness until her death in 1854.