Think Nursing is a "Woman’s Job?" – Think Again

It’s three o’clock in the afternoon as Monique DaSant Crawford enters the Emergency Department of St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital. She is ready to deliver. No, not a baby – her husband’s lunch. As usual, she’s fixed him a hardy meal – sandwiches, greens, fruit and cookies necessary to sustain a former star football player and power lifter.

After finishing her work as a manager at the Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County that day, she quickly spots her man. Johnny Crawford’s the guy in scrubs with a big smile on his face. They’ve been married for three years, an item for nine.

An elderly woman in the emergency department waiting area asks why a photographer is on hand. She is told a story is being done on a registered nurse.

"Oh, you’re showing her off-duty coming to give lunch to her doctor husband," the woman says.

"No, the man is a nurse."

"Oh, O.K.," the woman says, looking at the Crawfords. "That’s a more interesting story, isn’t it?"

So it goes in the world of registered nurse Johnny Crawford, a supervisor, whose chosen profession often elicits expressions of surprise.

"I was even surprised at first that Johnny wanted to be a nurse," says his wife. "I hadn’t met any male nurses before. Of course, what I was dealing with is the same unfair stereotype that most people deal with – that nurses are females. It reminds me of when people thought women couldn’t be police officers."

Of the 2.1 million registered nurses employed today, the American Nurses Association reports that only slightly more than 5 percent, or 146,902, are men. It is a figure that Johnny Crawford, who says he simply "enjoys helping people in their time of need," believes can rise dramatically in the future.

"I’m mentoring some young men right now," Crawford says. "Once guys see what it takes to be a nurse – the scientific knowledge it takes to use space-age equipment coupled with compassion – they’re really interested. I’m going to be regularly talking to young men in the Houston Independent School District about the opportunities in nursing."

Now that salaries and flexibility are increasing, nurse Doug Bungay also sees more men moving into the field.

"The truth is, I think money, rather than stereotypes, has had more to do with the number of men in the profession than anything else."

Today, however, starting salaries for registered nurses are more than $40,000 a year, more than what most beginning journalists, teachers or law enforcement officers make.

Nurse Crawford comes from a family of health care employees. His dad was an advanced airborne medical specialist in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, his mother a licensed practical nurse. When he was a 180-pound star linebacker/guard on LaMarque’s district champion football team and a champion power lifter (he could dead lift 500 pounds), his parents told him about the opportunities in health care.

"At first, I thought I was going to be a teacher, but then my desire to more directly help people took over," he says. "Sometimes people will joke about my being a nurse, but I take it with a grain of salt. I’m secure about my position and my choice. Once guys find out all the technical things there are in nursing, that you’re working with multimillion dollar machines, their attitudes change."

He remembers how he recently helped a woman in the throes of a heart attack.

"I was able to calm her down, and we gave her the immediate treatment she needed to save her life," he says. "I saw her in the grocery store the other day, and she was thanking me and the hospital for the treatment. It really makes you feel good."

Dr. Frank Redmond, St. Luke’s director of emergency services, finds Crawford "fabulous" in the emergency department.

"He has a very calming influence with people," Dr. Redmond says.

Monique Crawford now finds it makes perfect sense for her husband to be a nurse.

"What really attracted me to Johnny is what a people person he is, how caring he is," she says. "It’s important that we get over all the stereotypes we have in this country. We could be wasting the potential of millions of men by silly stereotypes. Men caring for people is an important dimension that only makes our country stronger."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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