The Florence Nightingale Medal is an international award presented to those distinguished in nursing and named after British nurse Florence Nightingale. The medal was established in 1912 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), following the Eighth International Conference of Red Cross Societies in London in 1907. It is the highest international distinction a nurse can achieve and is awarded to nurses or nursing aides for "exceptional courage and devotion to the wounded, sick or disabled or to civilian victims of a conflict or disaster" or "exemplary services or a creative and pioneering spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education". The Florence Nightingale Medal Commission comprises several members and staff of the ICRC, several of whom are nursing professionals, and the head nurse of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. A representative of the International Council of Nurses also participates in the work of the commission. History The medal was initially set up to be awarded to six nurses annually, although the first 42 awards were only made in 1920 due to the disruption of the First World War. The first recipients came from Great Britain (including the then British Empire), Austria,Belgium Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Romania and the United States. Included in the nine nurses from Great Britain and the then British Empire were: Beatrice Isabel Jones, Margaret MacDonald, and Hester Maclean. The six American nurses were: Florence Merriam Johnson, Helen Scott Hay, Linda K. Meirs, Martha M. Russell, Mary E. Gladwin, and Alma E. Foerster, and three German nurses including Elsbeth von Keudell. Ida F. Butler was the fifteenth American recipient of the award in 1937. The medal was restricted to female nurses until regulation changes in 1991. Under the new regulations, it is open to both women and men and is awarded every two years to a maximum number of fifty recipients worldwide. Medal description The vesica piscis-shaped medal is composed of gold and silver-gilt and bears a portrait of Florence Nightingale surrounded by the words "Ad memoriam Florence Nightingale 1820–1910". On the reverse, the name of the recipient and the date of the award is engraved, surrounded by the inscription "Pro vera misericordia et cara humanitate perennis décor universalis" ("true and loving humanitarianism – a lasting general propriety"). The medal is attached to a white and red ribbon by a clasp featuring a red