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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
A man being treated in the Health Sciences Centre\u2019s adult emergency department last Friday punched a physician, and police arrested the patient.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIncidents like this serve as a reminder of the challenges health-care workers face every day. They also reinforce the importance of our ongoing work to strengthen safety measures and ensure a secure environment for everyone at HSC,\u201d a spokesperson for the health authority said.<\/p>\n
The doctor\u2019s age, gender and injuries were not disclosed.<\/p>\n
The attack happened amid ongoing efforts to crack down on violence against health-care workers in Manitoba.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth-care workers, like all workers, deserve to be safe at their workplace, and harming them is unacceptable,\u201d Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said. \u201cEverybody deserves to go to work and know they are going to be treated with respect and not face incidents of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asagwara has asked regional health authorities to assess security protocols at their various facilities and recommend possible safety improvements.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth-care workers, like all workers, deserve to be safe at their workplace, and harming them is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister cited a recent threat risk assessment at Thompson\u2019s hospital that included a review of panic alarms, public address systems, security lighting and access points.<\/p>\n
The facility plans to add 10 new institutional safety officer positions. Eight of the new hires will work full time hours to provide 24-7 security at the northern health centre.<\/p>\n
The health authority received 32 applications for the 10 positions and hiring is \u201cwell underway,\u201d Asagwara said, adding a new security lead was also hired for the region and began work on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing a lot of work that will actually be rolling out across all regions,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara Asagwara has asked regional health authorities to assess security protocols at their various facilities and recommend possible safety improvements.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can expect that the work\u2026 is really going to ramp up, and that we\u2019ll have the tool provincially at sites across the province to ensure that we\u2019re moving safety and security in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Thompson General Hospital and HSC are currently \u201cgrey-listed\u201d by the Manitoba Nurses Union, which has declared them unsafe and is urging members elsewhere to turn down available shifts until safety-related demands are met.<\/p>\n Grey-listing at HSC began in August after a spike in violent incidents and safety concerns at and near the facility, including sexual assaults targeting four women and a teenage girl, all on the same evening in July.<\/p>\n Another HSC doctor was assaulted by a patient in November, and a nurse and health-care aide were attacked the previous month.<\/p>\n In Thompson, a patient was stabbed in the emergency room in September and a man fired a gun inside the hospital last Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n Unionized nurses in Thompson voted in favour of grey-listing the hospital last month, and the designation officially took effect last week.<\/p>\n \u201cI am hearing from nurses that things are better, that they do feel safer, but we are still not at a point where I can say that we\u2019re ready to lift grey-listing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am hearing from nurses that things are better, that they do feel safer, but we are still not at a point where I can say that we\u2019re ready to lift grey-listing,\u201d union president Darlene Jackson said.<\/p>\n Jackson said negotiations over the grey-listing at HSC and Thompson are ongoing, and there is no concrete timeline for the action to end.<\/p>\n Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook took aim at the NDP government in response to the latest attack at HSC.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely appalling whenever we hear about this kind of violence in any hospital or emergency room,\u201d the Progressive Conservative MLA for Roblin said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s scary for front-line health-care workers and it\u2019s scary for patients. Rather than simply reacting every time something bad happens, the government should be getting ahead of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Shared Health said violence in any form is unacceptable and has a significant impact on staff.<\/p>\n A spokesperson said the authority is working with the physician \u201cwho experienced Friday\u2019s traumatic event\u201d and will provide ongoing support.<\/p>\n \u201cRather than simply reacting every time something bad happens, the government should be getting ahead of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The province\u2019s physician advocacy organization said it, too, is in touch with the victim.<\/p>\n \u201cDoctors Manitoba is deeply disturbed about yet another assault on a physician at Health Sciences Centre,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we\u2019ve seen significant steps to improve safety at HSC in recent months, this is another unnecessary reminder that there is much more work to be done, and it must be done swiftly.\u201d<\/p>\n A survey conducted in August by the organization showed physicians who work at HSC are subjected to nearly half of all the assaults perpetrated against doctors in the province.<\/p>\n At the time, more than four in 10 of all physical-safety incidents reported to Doctors Manitoba over the previous 12 months occurred at or near HSC, the survey said.<\/p>\n Almost 30 per cent of HSC doctors who participated in the survey said they experienced an average of 11 physical-safety incidents in 2023, nearly double the provincial average of six.<\/p>\n tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Tyler Searle Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press\u2019s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic\u2019s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022.\u00a0Read more about Tyler<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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