A former patient of Qeii Halifax infirmary speaks for security problems, alleging that she had first witnessed the type of experience of the violence of health workers.
Mandie Pitre shares the story in the light of a silver code incident on Wednesday in the hospital emergency room, where three workers were stabbed.
“If nothing is done to ensure that there is better security and better security for staff and for hospital patients, this will continue to continue,” she said.
Pitre was hospitalized in the orthopedic unit with an ankle dislocated in September 2024. She says she woke up in the middle of the night and heard another patient talking with the nursing team on the other side of his alcove.
Suddenly, she remembers, the tone has changed.
“There is no security on the ground at the moment, and it is only these six nurses, who are not very large. So they start to panic, and you can hear in their voice, something significant is happening and it’s not good, “she said.
Pitre said that she later discovered that the patient had entered the nurses and threatened them with a pair of scissors. The staff called the police, who arrived at the scene and tried to defuse the situation.
“They are like:” You have to put the scissors, you frighten the nurses and that does not make them feel safe, “she recalls.
“Suddenly, just outside the blue, I hear this cry of blood.”
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Clittleness says that she saw the man sink into the corridor in front of her and saw her injured.
“And then he is finally withdrawn from the ground and then it’s a whole crime scene in the hospital,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Halifax regional police confirmed that police were called to QEII on September 11, 2024 for an incident linked to arms. Police said the staff of this situation were not physically injured.
After the last attack, Pitre says she was discouraged not to hear anything changed.
Violence at work is a major concern for current and aspiring nurses.
Tiffany McEwen, president of the Canadian Nursing Student Association, says that he can prevent students from entering the field.
“I said to myself,” Is this really what I want to do? ” Do I want to go to work every day fear that someone can attack any reason, that I can end up working for six months, lose my income, be afraid, have post- traumatic incident? ‘She said.
“Violence does not stop as soon as the assault is over.”
According to Nova Scotia, the nursing union, violence can be prevented.
Janet Hazleton, president of the union, spoke of the question during the federal, provincial and territorial meeting of health, which took place this week in Halifax.
“We say that we need security in all our 24/7 facilities,” said Hazelton.
“We need security cameras. I think we need metal detectors. Yesterday, I spoke to the Ministers of Health and the Federal Minister of Health and I spoke, and I said it was time. “”
Karen Oldfield, CEO of Nova Scotia Health, said she was doing what she can make the province safer.
“I want them to know that I do everything in my power to make sure they can feel safe at their workplace,” she said in an interview on Thursday.
She confirmed that the Nova Scotia Health had bought five wands with hand metal detection to allow staff to search for hidden weapons, and that training to learn to use them started.
In addition, she said that contractual negotiations with the province’s nurses had led to an agreement to spend $ 7 million for new security measures, such as risk assessments and education programs. And she stressed that the health authority and the nursing union decided together to invest these funds.
As part of the Wednesday incident, Nicholas Robert Coulombe, 32,of Halifax, faces a chief of attempted murder, of three counts of serious assaults, three chiefs of aggression with a weapon and two chiefs of possession of a dangerous weapon in the purpose of commit a crime.
– with Canadian press files
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