ER Nurses and First Responders

I noticed when waiting long at the ER, after they had decided I needed to be admitted to get some IV antibiotics and lacked only an assigned room, that many of the ER nurses, LNAs, and other aides had t-shirts showing solidarity with police and firefighters, whether in general or more often a specific department or event. I had noted it last time but wondered if it were some specific week or celebration. The nurses upstairs did not have these.

It makes sense, I told one of my text-threads.  They would encounter each other often and have respect for what the other does. More than that, answered one of the others, they tend to be of opposite sexes. Those two groups date and marry each other a lot. She noted further that her sister, a nurse who has worked across the country, has observed that this is common in ERs.

Well, this makes sense at an even deeper level.  There are similar levels of excitement and need for bursts of intense focus in both jobs, so personalities and interests outside of work are likely. It also solves the problem of dating someone you work with and the possible trouble that everyone can get in, especially these days. They don't work for the same agencies. I remember that teachers were sometimes married to policemen when I was younger. In highschool, sometimes a college professor. Again, mostly-female paired with mostly-male. Social workers are mostly female, but when I was younger I never heard of one married to or even dating a first responder. It was an issue of perceived class, I think. They would have considered themselves above that. I knew a few younger social workers when I left who were married to policemen, though. I can think of reasons why the class barrier is down. Doctors were mostly male and often married nurses, especially instructors or administrators. Now that MDs are more evenly split, they seem to marry each other a lot. 

Other frequent pairings with a sex-division may occur to you. Please point them out and make observations.