The Alberta Union of Professional Employees (AUPE) is speaking out after two patients seriously assaulted a health-care worker at Alberta Hospital on Christmas Day.
The 300-bed psychiatric facility on the northeast edge of Edmonton serves multiple purposes via both inpatient and outpatient programs and care.
Alberta Hospital provides mental health and addictions services such a detox treatments, as well as long-term forensic psychiatric care for people found not criminally responsible for violent crimes.
It’s not known what the patients who assaulted a staff member were at Alberta Hospital for.
Recovery Alberta cited privacy and the ongoing investigation as reasons for not providing further details, other than to say it was a workplace violence incident involving two patients.
Edmonton police were called shortly before 2 a.m. to reports of an assault at the hospital. Officers arrived to find a man suffering from serious but non-life threatening injuries.
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The man was taken to hospital and two men were arrested.
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Details on exactly what happened during the attack have not been confirmed by officials, but the AUPE characterized it as a violent incident that left an essential health-care worker injured and staff at the facility traumatized.
The facility used to be run by Alberta Health Services but as part of the UCP government’s dismantling of that health-care authority, the hospital is now run by Recovery Alberta.
While Recovery Alberta said workplace violence is rare, the AUPE says that’s not the case.
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On Tuesday, Recovery Alberta said emergency protocols were immediately activated, incidents of this nature are rare and the organization takes this attack extremely seriously.
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The AUPE disputes those claims, saying it’s incredibly disappointed in Recovery Alberta’s response and claiming it did not follow established processes.
“The employer did not comply with critical steps that immediately follow such incidents, which then delayed outreach and support for AUPE members,” the union said in a statement.
“It is an unacceptable reality that health-care workers are frequently victims of workplace violence, subject to both psychological and physical trauma.
“It is a pervasive problem that places even further hardship on workers while they struggle with short staffing and high workloads.”
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When asked to respond to AUPE’s claims, Recovery Alberta said it would be inappropriate to respond without understanding the specific protocols being referenced by the union.
It said it was supporting the injured employee and staff affected by the incident.
The worker has since been released from hospital.
As of publishing, the Edmonton Police Service said no charges have been laid but are pending, and officers continue to investigate.
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