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November 27, 2011

AP: Female Orthodox Jewish EMTs make unorthodox pitch to work with all-male ambulance corps in NYC

by Cristian Salazar
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Most Orthodox Jewish women avoid touching men except direct relatives. They don't sit next to men on buses or even at weddings. They have separate swimming hours at indoor pools. But for an emergency birth, Orthodox Jewish women will usually turn to the all-male volunteer ambulance corps known as Hatzolah.

Now a group of women in one of the country's largest Orthodox Jewish communities is proposing to join up with Hatzolah as emergency medical technicians to respond in cases of labor or gynecological emergencies.

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