Safety officers to be posted to Grace Hospital ER

Grace Hospital could have institutional safety officers stationed in its emergency department as early as next week after a string of violent incidents, including recent assaults on three employees.

Following a two-and-a-half hour closed door meeting with about 30 health-care workers and allied health professionals at the Grace Friday afternoon, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara confirmed the specialized safety officers will be deployed to add a layer of security at the hospital.

“(Workers) were very clear that they need more help. They need more resources, and they need us to work directly with them to make those things happen,” Asagwara said after the meeting Friday.

The Manitoba Nurses Union said a man who was being treated at Grace Hospital on May 1 sexually assaulted and threatened two nurses and an allied health professional. The patient, a 59-year-old man, was known to be violent when he was transferred from the emergency department to another unit where the assaults occurred. Police said Sunday one employee had her garment ripped as the patient tried to bite her.

The man was charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of uttering threats.

The meeting with Grace staff was scheduled in response to the incident, Asagwara said. The health minister spoke with several hospital employees and union worksite leaders in the lead-up to the discussion. Premier Wab Kinew was also at the meeting.

Workers told Asagwara and Kinew that more patients with drug addictions and displaying aggressive behaviours are showing up in the ER.

“They’re seeing behaviours in general that are putting staff and patients at greater risk in the emergency department,” Asagwara said.

The facility had two qualified protective safety officers installed this week after the May 1 assaults. Institutional safety officers are licensed and specially trained peace officers, whereas qualified protective safety officers lack the same authority to restrain, detain and make an arrest.

In a joint news release from the nurses union and the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, five events since January were detailed. They included the assault of a staff member by someone who entered the facility with a shovel, two nurses punched, a visitor who threatened to kill a nurse, and a patient who brought a military-grade smoke grenade into the emergency department.

Between March and December of last year, Grace Hospital reported the third-highest number of instances of abuse against employees among the seven major Winnipeg hospitals, behind St. Boniface and Health Sciences Centre, data collected by the nurses union show. HSC reported 375 incidents in that period, St. Boniface had 202 and Grace Hospital counted 80 events.

With the recent incidents, Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said she would not be surprised if employees considered grey-listing the facility.

Grey-listing is a union declaration that a workplace is unsafe and doesn’t meet professional standards, and advises colleagues not to take jobs or accept available shifts until safety concerns are addressed.

“There has to be a safe environment, so that may mean having an (institutional safety officer) there, that may mean ensuring there’s always a guard in the room with the nurse,” she said. “We provide the care but we expect to do it in a safe environment.”

Three Manitoba hospitals are currently grey-listed: Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface Hospital and Thompson General Hospital.

The province has safety officers stationed at Thompson General Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.

Asagwara also promised Grace would see social workers present around the clock and more psychiatric nurses and doctors to improve conditions.

Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president Jason Linklater feels there is a disconnect between what the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Shared Health share with the province’s health department.

“I find it very curious that when government connects directly with staff and hear what is actually happening, that they’ll act on it,” he said. “It seems like none of the information that is critical to decision making makes its way to government in a meaningful way.”

Linklater says the issues at the Grace go beyond health care and there needs to be a system-wide audit so the true cost of overhauling health-care to improve conditions can be realized.

In January, the office of the auditor general released a report on the management of dialysis services in the province, which found the program is not being managed efficiently. Linklater said an audit of the entire health-care system could mean meaningful investment to address systemic issues.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca