Doctor to receive award for saving nurse from attacker

A Winnipeg physician who saved a nurse supervisor from being stabbed to death in the atrium of Seven Oaks hospital is set to be decorated for bravery by the Governor General Thursday.

Dr. Kenneth Hahlweg stopped the suspect by tackling him and chasing him from the front entrance of the hospital into the hands of police, who were just outside, on Oct. 27, 2021.

He raced back into the facility and applied first aid to his colleague’s neck, which had a gaping wound.

“My training led me to act in the moment. We are trained to not freeze, but to act and to do what needs to be done to get someone to wellness rather than illness or harm,” he told the Free Press two days after the attack.

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will present Hahlweg, along with some two dozen others, with bravery awards at a ceremony at Rideau Hall on Thursday.

Hahlweg was also given a bravery award from Doctors Manitoba weeks after the incident.

The supervisor, Candyce Szkwarek, survived.

In 2023, Trevor Farley, a nurse at the hospital, was found not criminally responsible for stabbing Szkwarek and killing his parents on the same day.