I want to echo what my colleague said. It's acknowledgement. If you spend so long feeling like this is the way it is, this is what I should expect and this is the level of violence that I should habituate to, it becomes background noise. It becomes just part of the business of doing your work.
For someone to say, “Hey, maybe tolerating abuse isn't an expectation. Maybe you can go to work and not have someone sexually assault you” is identifying. It's saying, “Hey, we see that this is a problem and we want to talk about it.” That then allows nurses and paramedics to say, “Yes, it is a problem and these are the ways in which this violence has impacted me.”
Asking that question is so incredibly powerful. Thank you for asking.