Nurses relieved as police presence at HSC adult emergency department begins

Front-line staff in the Health Sciences Centre emergency department are hopeful a 24-7 police presence, which begins Saturday, will help curb the escalation of violence and threats from some patients.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said two Winnipeg police officers will be on each shift to have a visible presence in the adult emergency department and conduct patrols of the hospital.

“This is really about prevention, quick response and creating an overall more secure and safer environment for everyone at HSC,” Asagwara told the Free Press. “It will also allow for these police officers to build really important relationships with everybody at the site.”

The officers will be working on voluntary overtime, said Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Pat Saydak.

Shared Health, which operates HSC, said the first shift of officers will begin at 6:30 a.m.

HSC will be one of at least two Canadian hospitals with a 24-7 police presence. The move follows longstanding concerns about the safety of staff, patients and visitors, and several serious assaults this year alone.

The police officers will work in tandem with institutional safety officers, security guards and Shared Health staff.

“Everyone who’s apart of this comprehensive safety and security approach is working toward the same goal,” Asagwara said.

The Manitoba government announced in September it was providing $2.3 million in funding for the uniformed officers, along with five weapon-detection scanners at HSC’s main public entrances.

Police had a 24-7 presence in the HSC emergency department many years ago. Scanners were permanently installed at the entrances to the adult and children’s ERs, and the Crisis Response Centre earlier this year.

HSC’s ER is the busiest in Manitoba, with staff frequently providing care to people who are in a drug-induced or mental-health crisis, or a state of agitation.

The Manitoba Nurses Union welcomed the 24-7 police presence, but it still had some concerns or questions; president Darlene Jackson said the union is taking a wait-and-see approach to the long overdue measure.

Jackson said staff were anxiously waiting for police to begin.

“I really hope this is a starting point for every facility in Manitoba to have a safe place for everyone to either receive or give care because it’s not just Health Sciences Centre, it’s not just the city,” she said. “This is an issue that happens all over this province.”

Jackson originally hoped the same officers would be assigned to HSC’s ER on a permanent basis to help build familiarity with the facility, staff and patients who frequently show up.

“Everyone sort of gets into a rhythm, how they react to things,” she said. “It’s less disruptive than seeing a different face every day.”

Jackson is worried the use of overtime will impede that desired cohesiveness.

A visible police presence in the waiting room can be a calming influence and reassuring to patients, she noted.

“Every day, there’s incidents where nurses have been yelled at, sworn at, spit on,” she said. “It feels like it’s a sign of the times, and it’s almost a societal change that has happened since COVID.”

A nurse, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said staff are hopeful the police presence will help to make the ED safer by deterring potential trouble in the first place.

“We had been asking for police for years,” the nurse said.

Jackson said she doesn’t want to see the officers pulled out of the ER on a frequent basis because it’s an area where violence frequently happens.

She was concerned the officers would be tasked with supervising patients in crisis as part of their duties, which could prevent them from fulfilling other tasks or responding to situations.

“Once you are with a mental-health patient, you are obligated to sit with that patient,” she said. “This is just going to have to play out, and we’re going to have to see how it works out.”

Winnipeg Police Association president Cory Wiles said members want to assist and help address safety concerns at HSC.

“This likely is a short-term solution,” he said. “We want people to feel safe, not just at this hospital but the many other areas of our city where levels of crime and violence have been identified.

“The challenge always comes down to having enough resources to meet the needs and those are the discussions we hope the W.P.A. will be a part of if we are looking at some sort of permanent presence.”

Police in Windsor, Ont., have one officer assigned to a local hospital 24-7 to speed up person-in-crisis transfer times and get patrol members back on the street.

A Manitoba government news release indicated future protocols will be developed to connect people in mental-health crises with the appropriate health-care professionals, allowing police officers to return to their duties.

On Oct. 19, a health-care aide and a nurse were assaulted while they sat with a patient who was waiting in emergency to receive mental-health services, MNU said.

The union was told the aide was “choked out” by the patient.

In August, MNU members at HSC voted 94 per cent in favour of “grey listing” the hospital to discourage current and new nurses from seeking jobs there. The move reflected nurses’ concerns about safety and security on and near the hospital campus.

Four women and a teenage girl were sexually assaulted by a male on or near hospital grounds July 2.

In April 2024, an arbitrator gave Shared Health 30 days to create a safety plan for HSC, saying staff faced an “unacceptable level of risk” in outdoor areas of the campus.

Upgrades since then include the rollout of institutional safety officers, additional panic alarms, improved lighting and door-access controls.

Progressive Conservative justice critic Wayne Balcaen accused the NDP government of mismanaging safety and security at Manitoba hospitals. He called on the province to add security measures at rural and northern hospitals, as well.

“How did we get to this state under this NDP government? We’re just seeing violent crime absolutely out of control, and they’re doing anything they can to fill these stop-gap measures,” Balcaen said.

The use of police overtime can have future ramifications or unintended consequences, he said.

Asagwara accused the PCs of ignoring safety and security concerns — and leaving the NDP with “some catching up to do” — when in government between 2016 and 2023.

Institutional safety officers are being introduced at Thompson’s hospital, where a patient was stabbed Sept. 30.

Asagwara said the province will continue to evaluate and “understand” the safety and security needs of hospitals throughout Manitoba.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca