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GOOGLE STREET VIEW<\/p>\n
Calls by staff members at Thompson General Hospital for additional security measures following violence and threats has resulted in the province hiring five full-time Institutional safety officers with assurances that more are on the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there needs to be more institutional safety officers in Thompson, then we\u2019ll evaluate that as time goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NDP government promised in its throne speech in November that eight officers would provide 24-7 coverage at the hospital, where a gunshot was fired in a chapel and a patient was stabbed in a nine-month period.<\/p>\n
The initial five officers started this month. Asagwara\u2019s press secretary, Anja Sadovski, said the hospital will have 24-7 coverage after the other officers complete their training.<\/p>\n
The Manitoba Nurses Union, which advocated for safety officers in hospitals, welcomed the rollout in Thompson, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Asagwara said the officers are part of a layered, comprehensive approach to safety and security \u2014 alongside measures such as security cameras, lighting, safe walks and amnesty lockers \u2014 at sites across Manitoba.<\/p>\n
Artificial-intelligence weapon scanners were installed at some entrances at the Health Sciences Centre campus in Winnipeg last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a whole lot of work that\u2019s happening to improve safety and security in Thompson and sites across the province,\u201d Asagwara said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re making sure we\u2019re continually evaluating this and assessing this so that we continue to strengthen this area, so folks are safe at work and patients are safe when they\u2019re getting care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members of the nurses union at Thompson General Hospital voted 97 per cent in favour of grey-listing the facility in November amid concerns for their safety and calls for action.<\/p>\n
The tactic, also employed recently by their colleagues at Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, discourages current and new nurses from taking jobs or shifts at a grey-listed facility.<\/p>\n
Northern Health Region implemented secured and monitored overnight access at Thompson\u2019s hospital on Dec. 1, about two weeks after the facility was grey-listed by nurses.<\/p>\n
A smartphone app that sends emergency alerts to hospital staff and provides a direct line to security personnel is scheduled to roll out this month. The province also promised amnesty lockers for patients or visitors who carry weapons or items that could be considered weapons.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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The Thompson hospital already had a 24-7 presence of security guards. Provincial legislation gives safety officers greater legal authority than security guards, including the power to detain people who are deemed to pose a safety threat. They are trained to use OC pepper gel, a non-lethal spray made from a derivitive of chili pepper, that subdues an attacker by causing temporary eye closure and breathing difficulties.<\/p>\n
The province has funded 128 safety officer positions for some hospitals and Selkirk Mental Health Centre. They include 60 positions at HSC and 18 each at St. Boniface and Victoria hospitals. Manitoba\u2019s first group of hospital safety officers started at HSC in April 2024.<\/p>\n
Within the Winnipeg health region, costs related to the program were about $2.5 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year, and almost $4 million in 2025-26 as of Feb. 25, a government spokesperson said. The amount includes salaries, training and implementation costs.<\/p>\n
\u2014 With files from Carol Sanders<\/p>\n
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Chris Kitching Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Chris 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
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