Stabbing at Thompson hospital renews safety concerns during question period at legislature

A stabbing at the Thompson General Hospital is raising questions about safety for patients, staff members and visitors at the same facility where a gun was discharged last year.

The issue came up during question period at the Manitoba legislature Wednesday after RCMP reported the incident that occurred at about noon Tuesday. Officers arrested a 20-year-old Thompson woman after security guards detained her near the emergency room. Officers learned she was not a patient at the hospital but was there with a family member.

Police found a knife on the woman arrested, RCMP said in a news release. The 43-year-old victim, who knows the woman arrested, was treated for a non-life-threatening injury and later released, police said.

“Yesterday, a patient in Thompson Hospital was stabbed,” Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said in the chamber. “Why is patient health and safety getting worse?”

On Thursday, RCMP corrected a Wednesday news release, saying the victim was not a patient and that both women involved were visitors there.

In response, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said every health-care worker and patient deserves to be safe.

Asagwara said the government condemns any violence and noted that the PCs took no action during their 7 1/2 years in government to address safety and security issues.

Asagwara told the chamber that the NDP government has since introduced 120 specially trained institutional safety officers and metal detectors at Manitoba hospitals.

The Manitoba Nurses Union said Wednesday that there are no ISOs or weapons scanners in place at the Thompson hospital.

“We have been advocating for ISOs in Thompson since the gun incident last Christmas Eve,” the MNU said in an email.

On Dec. 24, a 33-year-old man — who was not a patient — was taken into custody for pointing and shooting a firearm inside the hospital’s chapel. RCMP seized the weapon and found a bullet hole and ammunition in the chapel. Nurses and doctors called for security improvements at the facility.

A spokesperson for the Northern Health Region that’s in charge of the hospital said it has security officers on site, but no institutional safety officers.

ISOs are authorized to carry specific weapons, including handcuffs, batons and aerosol spray and trained to use them to restrain individuals as part of their duties in health care and post-secondary institutions, the Manitoba government says.

“ISOs undergo specialized training, maintain ongoing certification and must pass physical abilities tests to be authorized to use these tools for safety and security purposes,” according to the Province of Manitoba.

The Thompson hospital doesn’t have any weapon-detection scanners, the health region spokesperson said. “Planning is underway to implement ISO roles in Thompson.”

In a statement late Wednesday, the health minister expressed alarm over the hospital stabbing.

“Our government will continue working with health regions to strengthen safety and identify security measures that are appropriate for each site and its needs,” Asagwara said.

The Tory health critic said it’s taking too long.

“We know that issues in the Thompson hospital are not new,” Cook (Roblin) said in an interview. “We heard that a gun was discharged at the hospital chapel last year and staff routinely raise these concerns and they don’t feel these concerns are taken seriously,” she said. “It’s been an issue for months, so I’d be curious to know what the NDP has done since. Clearly, more needs to be done to protect patients and staff.”

RCMP said the accused in Tuesday’s stabbing was charged with aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon. She was remanded into custody.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca