Dearest reader,
Today marks my very first blog, and I’m honoured you’ve stopped by. My name is Fiona Antony, and I provide modern nursing care at home, offering aged and palliative support across Portland, Victoria. This space is where we’ll explore how Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles still guide compassionate, evidence-based care today — bringing comfort, dignity, and holistic support right to your doorstep.
“What nursing has to do… is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him.”
— Florence Nightingale,
Notes on Nursing (1860)
I begin quietly: a cup of tea (one sugar), my little Dachshund for company, and music from my favourite television series, 'All Creatures Great and Small'. I’ve decided to dedicate this first chapter to one of the pioneers of my profession, Florence Nightingale, and her book 'Notes on Nursing'. Over the months ahead, I’ll walk between the then and now to see what we may keep, what we may soften, and what we may do differently for comfort and dignity at home.
Some wisdom never goes out of date: fresh air, clean rooms, gentle voices, steady hands. Kindness that turns up when it says it will. Other things have changed—our medicines, our records, and the way teams speak to one another across town and across time.
I’ll pair Florence’s insights with up-to-date research and evidence—as modern nursing does best—but it won’t always be formal and clinical. As you get to know me, you’ll find I’m an old soul at heart, with a bit of cheek and a great love of good, old-fashioned care.
Before we explore Chapter One, I want to linger in Nightingale’s Preface. She begins with a gentle but radical claim that “disease [is] a reparative process.” Illness is not only an enemy to be fought, the body has the ability to repair and recover. Nursing, then, was the art of removing the little stones from one's path so nature could keep walking. Or, in her own words, to put the patient “in the best condition for nature to act.”
What strikes me reading this today is how plainly she names the causes of so much suffering. She says the pains we think belong to the disease often arise from something else entirely—a want of fresh air, of light, of warmth, of quiet, of cleanliness, or care in food. I can see these lines playing out in living rooms across Portland: the heater too low or too high, the TV a fraction too loud, curtains shut at midday, a dining table crowded with mail so there’s nowhere to set down a warmed meal. Small things, but they pull against the body’s reparative work.
The role of the nurse is to set them right, kindly and without fuss.
She also stretches the idea of nursing beyond illness. There is “nursing the sick,” yes—but also “nursing the well.” The same simple laws of health apply to all of us, only with gentler consequences for the well. I like this a lot. It reminds me to support the family and carers as much as the patient: the daughter who forgets to drink water, the husband who sleeps in a chair and wakes with a stiff back. When we nurse the well, we protect the sick.
Nightingale is careful not to scold the nurse. “I do not mean that the nurse is always to blame,” she writes, noting how bad sanitary, architectural, or administrative arrangements can often make good nursing near impossible. That honesty still matters.
In the home, we are guests in someone’s story— their journey, their life. We work with what is there, mend what we can, and accept what cannot be changed, without judgement or unkindness. Some changes need only a warm word and a window latched. Others require a GP’s note, a pharmacy’s help, or a call for more hands.
Read with modern eyes, the Preface feels like plain physiology dressed in common sense. Today we often fix our gaze on the illness—tests and scans, clean rooms to keep germs away, careful notes in computer systems, and a duty to avoid harm. Nightingale’s language was cosier, but the goal of excellent patient care is the same: make conditions right, so the body’s work is easier.
In my practice this looks a little bit ordinary. I turn the heater on as I arrive. I leave the little light on and the door just ajar so you can always see your way. I clear a space for your cup of tea and set the paper within easy reach. I soften the television and speak in a voice that lets a breath finish before it answers. I watch patiently. I listen intently. I write quietly. I ring the GP when we must. It is not “doing nothing.” It is good, old-fashioned nursing.
You can read more about Florence Nightingale’s original work in Notes on Nursing — her words still inspire modern nursing care at home today.
Read More Recent Blogs
Our Mission
RN-led in-home aged care, palliative care and end-of-life support delivered at home across Portland and the surrounding districts of South West Victoria.
Our trusted multidisciplinary team provides holistic, personalised and dignified care, helping families keep loved ones safe, comfortable and connected.
Where we Travel
Aged care: within 30 minutes of Portland, Vic
Palliative and end-of-life care: within 1.5–2 hours of Portland, Vic
Find us on → Facebook
Trust & Compliance
ABN: 35 139 055 819
AHPRA Registration: NMW0001796044
Indemnity: Professional Indemnity & Public Liability through Vero Insurance (LPS/024932055/37367)
Provider Number: Currently processing
Qualifications: Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care. Ongoing study in Geriatric Medicine (Professional Certificate)
Start the Conversation
Have questions or need support?
Call us on 0468 387 928 or email office@florenceathome.com.au.
We’ll be here when you need us.
Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the Gunditjmara People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live and work in Portland.
We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Our Mission
RN-led in-home aged care, palliative care and end-of-life support delivered at home across Portland and the surrounding districts of South West Victoria.
Our trusted multidisciplinary team provides holistic, personalised and dignified care, helping families keep loved ones safe, comfortable and connected.
Where we Travel
Aged care: within 30 minutes of Portland, Vic
Palliative and end-of-life care: within 1.5–2 hours of Portland, Vic
Find us on → Facebook
Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the Gunditjmara People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live and work in Portland.
We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Start the Conversation
Have questions or need support?
Call us on 0468 387 928 or email office@florenceathome.com.au.
We’ll be here when you need us.
Get Started
Trust & Compliance
ABN: 35 139 055 819
AHPRA Registration: NMW0001796044
Indemnity: Professional Indemnity & Public Liability through Vero Insurance (LPS/024932055/37367)
Provider Number: Currently processing
Qualifications: Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care. Ongoing study in Geriatric Medicine (Professional Certificate)
Our Mission
RN-led in-home aged care, palliative care and end-of-life support delivered at home across Portland and the surrounding districts of South West Victoria.
Our trusted multidisciplinary team provides holistic, personalised and dignified care, helping families keep loved ones safe, comfortable and connected.
Get Started
Start the Conversation
Have questions or need support?
Call us on 0468 387 928 or email office@florenceathome.com.au.
We’ll be here when you need us.
Find us on → Facebook
Where we Travel
Aged care: within 30 minutes of Portland, Vic
Palliative and end-of-life care: within 1.5–2 hours of Portland, Vic
Trust & Compliance
ABN: 35 139 055 819
AHPRA Registration: NMW0001796044
Indemnity: Professional Indemnity & Public Liability through Vero Insurance (LPS/024932055/37367)
Provider Number: Currently processing
Qualifications: Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care. Ongoing study in Geriatric Medicine (Professional Certificate)
Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the Gunditjmara People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live and work in Portland.
We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.