5 lessons from nursing greats of the past

2. It’s never too late to do something great. (Clara Barton)
If you’re something of a trivia guru, you know that Clara Barton technically wasn’t a nurse. She knew a great deal about nursing and spent much of her life caring for wounded soldiers, but she never trained as a nurse—she was actually a trained teacher. With that cleared up, we still think it’s acceptable to say that she was a nursing great.

A remarkable woman, Barton devoted many years to nursing on American battlefields and became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” Retirement wasn’t a concept that Barton ever embraced. In 1881, when she was 60 years old, she founded the American Red Cross and led the organization for 23 years, until she was 83. Even then, she wasn’t ready to stop. She went on to found the National First Aid Association of America and remained its honorary president for five years. She died a few years later at the age of 91.

Here was someone who continued to do amazing things for literally as long as she could. Her drive may have been a big factor in her longevity, and that should make all of us rethink retirement and what it will be for us.

NEXT: LOOK BEYOND THE HOSPITAL WALLS