Nurses union renews calls for safety action at HSC after security guard stabbed in ER

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This article was published 23/02/2024 (563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Calls to address “escalating” violence at Health Sciences Centre are growing louder after an agitated emergency-room patient allegedly stabbed a security guard Thursday.

The victim was treated for his injuries, which hospital chief nursing officer Jennifer Cumpsty described as minor, and released.

Police arrested a man in his 20s, who will be charged with assault with a weapon. His name hasn’t been made public because the charge has not yet been formally laid.

An HSC employee, who requested anonymity, also said the safety situation in the emergency department is worsening.

“Incidents like this involving a weapon are rare,” the staffer said, but noted finding weapons on patients is not.

“However verbal and physical violence and threats towards staff are a daily occurrence. Many staff do not feel safe working here and do not feel that their safety concerns are addressed.”

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson noted the stabbing occurred the day before the final arbitration hearing into a labour grievance over concerns about HSC staff safety.

The union filed the grievance in November in response to safety concerns involving the parkades and surface parking lots surrounding Manitoba’s largest hospital.

The arbitrator’s ruling is expected to be reserved for several months.

Jackson said that Shared Health, the provincial agency that oversees the hospital, has made some improvements, including lighting upgrades in parkades, and is considering the addition of more security cameras.

“But it is still not a safe workplace for health-care workers, and until it is, we will not stop advocating for that,” she said.

“I think things are escalating, I really do.”

Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said officers were called to the HSC at about 2 p.m. after a security guard’s hands were cut in an altercation with a patient who was being treated.

McKinnon said she did not know whether police seized any weapons.

Jackson said she was told staff called for help from security as the patient’s behaviour became a concern. The weapon was a pocket knife, she said.

Cumpsty, emphasizing safety is of utmost importance to hospital administrators, said security personnel tried to de-escalate the situation before one guard was injured.

Cumpsty thanked the security team and clinical staff for their efforts.

“For our staff, we understand the uncertainty that exists when providing care in an emergency department environment and are encouraging them to connect with critical incident stress management resources in relation to this event,” she said in a statement.

“We also recognize that our efforts to ensure staff feel safe in the workplace must continue, and we look forward to the introduction of institutional safety officers within our facility this spring.”

The previous Progressive Conservative provincial government created legislation governing institutional safety officers — who will have batons, handcuffs, pepper spray and the power to restrain and detain people — in 2021, but none are working in health-care facilities or universities yet.

Cumpsty said HSC has guards at or near entrance doors and in the emergency department around the clock.

“We both hear and appreciate the concerns of staff and are committed to moving forward with further initiatives that improve safety and security at our hospital,” she said.

Jackson said she wants officials to explore the possibility of installing metal detectors at HSC and other large health-care facilities.

“You cannot check a book out of the Millennium Library or go and watch a (Winnipeg) Jets game without going through a metal detector, but you can walk into any health-care facility in this province with a gun or a knife or (another) weapon with no hindrance at all,” she said.

— With files from Chris Kitching

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

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