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Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson says violent incidents are happening almost every day at the Health Sciences Centre. (Travis Golby\/CBC)<\/p>\nAssaults against a health-care aide and a nurse by a patient experiencing a mental health issue at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre last weekend underscore problems with safety at the province’s hospitals, the Manitoba Nurses Union says.<\/p>\n
“We are seeing violent incidents almost every day,” union president Darlene Jackson told CBC News.<\/p>\n
“Front-line workers are not there to be hit or to be spit on or to be threatened, and they need to do something to protect them quickly.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Details on the incident are scarce, but Jackson said it happened on Sunday, when a patient at the emergency room of the core-area hospital became violent. A nurse and a health-care aide were assaulted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A source with first-hand knowledge of the incident, whom CBC News has agreed not to name, said it was very busy in the emergency department at the time, and that it appeared both workers were choked.<\/p>\n
Neither worker required medical treatment, but “they are undoubtedly shaken up and traumatized by that situation,” said Jackson.<\/p>\n
Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson says violent incidents are happening almost every day at the Health Sciences Centre. (Travis Golby\/CBC)<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents health-care aides at HSC, confirmed a unit assistant was grabbed by a patient on Sunday, but said they didn’t suffer injuries.<\/p>\n
Manitoba Shared Health, the provincial health agency that operates the hospital, said the patient involved in the assaults was receiving mental health care at HSC’s adult emergency room.<\/p>\n
Shared Health said any act of violence in the workplace is “deeply concerning,” but all appropriate safety protocols were followed.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said two Winnipeg police officers were at HSC when the nurse was assaulted, and hospital safety officers “were on scene and responded immediately during the subsequent assault on a unit assistant.”<\/p>\n
Asagwara said they are relieved that no one sustained serious physical injuries.<\/p>\n
“Health-care workers should always feel safe doing their jobs, and we\u2019re strengthening supports to make sure of that,” Asagwara’s statement said. <\/p>\n
“We also know that most people in mental health crisis are seeking help, not harm.”<\/p>\n
Police to be stationed at HSC<\/p>\n
In August, the Manitoba Nurses Union said 94 per cent of Health Sciences Centre nurses voted in favour of “grey listing” the hospital<\/a> to discourage front-line workers from taking jobs there because of safety concerns. <\/p>\n The vote followed a string of crimes around the central Winnipeg hospital, including sexual assaults of five people<\/a> \u2014 two of them nurses \u2014 in early July. <\/p>\n Jackson said the most recent assaults highlight the importance of having police officers at Manitoba’s largest hospital.<\/p>\n The province announced last month two police officers will be stationed <\/a>around the clock to support security guards and safety officers at the Health Sciences Centre.<\/p>\n Asagwara told CBC News police officers will be stationed in the hospital’s emergency department beginning Nov. 1. <\/p>\n CBC News reached out to Winnipeg police for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Jackson said violent incidents are also taking place at other health-care facilities outside Winnipeg, including mental health units.<\/p>\n A patient was stabbed at a Thompson General Hospital<\/a> in early October. In April, a nurse was choked and nearly stabbed with a needle in a Brandon emergency room.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
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