Ode to Anna Reijnvaan | Worshipped by nurses and doctors

This text was translated using AI and may contain errors. If you have suggestions or comments, please contact us at info.ode@amsterdammuseum.nl.

I am writing this tribute to Anna Reijnvaan because, apart from being the founder of modern nursing, she was an extraordinary Amsterdam woman, of whom we can still take an example. Anna knew what she wanted and stuck to it. She went against the accepted norms of her time and chose her own path. Exactly as befits an Amsterdammer.

Johanna (Anna) Paulina was born on 5 April 1844 in Amsterdam's Doelenstraat, the daughter of Cornelia van de Poll and tobacco trader Apolonius Johannes Reijnvaan. As usual for a girl from the well-to-do bourgeoisie, Anna received a neat upbringing that was mainly indoors. She was taught by a French governess, learned to embroider and play music. At weekends, she went out by carriage to stroll with her family in the newly opened Vondelpark. Everything in Anna's life was geared towards her becoming a neat young lady who would marry and have children.

But Anna had other plans. She wanted to make herself useful and take care of sick people. When the Franco-German war breaks out in 1870, she wants to go there to nurse wounded soldiers. Her father forbids it. As a young, unmarried woman, Anna cannot go against such a ban but she does not give up. She sticks to her desire to want to care for sick people.

In 1880, Anna is 36 and living at home unmarried, her father grants her a little more freedom. He agrees to allow her to take the diploma from the newly established lay nurse training college. With this diploma in her pocket, Anna also wants to work as a nurse. And this time she doesn't let herself be stopped. She devises a plan to work against her father's wishes anyway. The story goes that she sneaks out of the house when her father is asleep to work night shifts at the private Civil Hospital. A hospital that at the time was modern and well organised. And yet, that very thing does not quite suit Anna. Rather, she wants to care for poor people who are sick. In public hospitals, Anna knows, care is at a low ebb, things are rough and hygiene is almost non-existent.

Anna exchanges the Civil Hospital for the public Binnengasthuis, and then the Buitengasthuis (later Wilhelmina Gasthuis). When people in her family and circle of acquaintances hear of this, they are violently shocked. They send Anna threatening letters. They demand that Anna stops working immediately because such a rough environment does not suit a woman of her standing. But Anna ignores the threats. On the contrary, she feels right at home! She even decides to live in the hospital grounds to focus fully on her work and career. In 1887, as the first nursing director in the Netherlands, she is faced with the task of implementing a massive, much-needed reorganisation of the Wilhelmina Hospital and improving patient care. Anna introduces hospital clothing for patients and uniforms for nurses.  She decorates wards with plants and flowers as this has a beneficial effect on patients' healing process. She improves training and makes nursing a real profession. Together with Jeltje de Bosch Kemper, she founds a union and a monthly magazine for nurses. She writes articles on newly acquired insights to prevent infections and work sterile. 

Anna Reijnvaan is an active woman. She also works outside the hospital to improve patient care. She is a member of all kinds of boards, from the Amsterdam District Nursing Association and the Vereeniging Toevlucht voor Onbehuisden (Association of Refuge for the Unhoused) to the Stichting van Christelijke inrichtingen voor verpleging van zwakzinnigen (Foundation of Christian institutions for nursing the mentally ill). Anna is also irritated by the negative image of unmarried women becoming nurses at the end of the 19th century. To influence public opinion, she decides to write a partly autobiographical novella ‘Sister Clara. Sketches from the life of a nurse in an urban hospice’. The book is published in 1892 and becomes a great success.

Because of her dedication, Anna is worshipped by nurses and doctors. In 1895, on her twelve-and-a-half-year anniversary, a fund bearing her name is set up for nurses in need of financial support. A year later, on 16 August 1896, Anna reluctantly had to apply for early retirement. ‘My poor health forces me to take it easy,’ she says. She is then 52 years old. She moves to Eerste Helmersstraat opposite her beloved hospital. From time to time, she still does voluntary work there, but she is also bedridden. On 19 October 1920, she dies from the effects of the Spanish flu, which claimed between 50 and 100 million victims worldwide and also hit Amsterdam hard. Anna Reijnvaan lived to be 76 years old and was interred in the family grave at Zorgvlied after her death.

Honours

On the WG grounds stands the A. Reijnvaan flat and her name is reflected in the sculpture ‘For nursing’ by Liesbeth Pallesen. In 2023, a memorial sign for Anna Reijnvaan was also installed on the WG site by De Zaak Muurbloem. It was designed by 15-year-old Jill Ruiter, a pupil at Huygens College.

Since 1998, Amsterdam UMC has named a lecture and an award after Anna Reijnvaan. The prize is awarded annually. 
 

De Zaak Muurbloem (The Case Wallflower) - Make Women Visible - are: Annemarieke Weber, Clara Kroes, Maria Duibbeldam, Danielle Havertong and Marianne de Wit.