union – Winnipeg Free Press

Security at the province's largest hospital complex is significantly tighter for University of Manitoba students and staff than nurses, who have called for increased security measures amid heightened ER violence.

The Manitoba Nurses Union wants to know why some people are better protected than others at the Health Sciences Center in Winnipeg.

“We find it surprising,” union president Darlene Jackson said Tuesday after receiving an arbitration award regarding safety issues in and around HSC's parking lots.

Jackson, a former nurse, said she had not yet read it and would not comment until members had a chance to review the decision.

At the U of M's Bannatyne Avenue medical sciences campus, security guards classified as facility security officers carry batons and pepper gel, but security guards working for Shared Health elsewhere on the hospital complex do not.

In 2021, legislation that paved the way for the institutional security officer classification expanded the scope of specialized security guards. It allows peace officers to undergo training that allows them to carry batons, handcuffs and pepper spray or gel — a thicker substance that travels farther than spray and has a more targeted stream that reduces shock.

The union called for gun scanners and armed guards to be installed in the hospital's emergency department following the February 22 shooting of an unarmed security guard.

On March 5, a person broke into a staff office area that was not controlled by card or key, broke a paper cutter, and then seized the weapon on the main floor of the hospital.

She used the knife to break the glass on the office door before being caught by police, the nurses' union said, citing a report of the incident.

Dozens of institutional safety officers are scheduled to begin work at HSC on Monday, with additional training courses to follow in the coming months, Shared Health said in a statement.

But Jackson said they won't have the same equipment as U of M officers.

“They use the same tools they used in the past – verbal judo, brawls and handcuffs if necessary,” he said. “Despite the fact that they have trained them and called them ISOs, they are not using the tools required by the legislation to allow them to act as ISOs.”

De-escalation efforts by unarmed officers have been called “verbal judo.”

“Our position is that they should use the tools that are appropriate to the legislation,” Jackson said. “I think they think what they call verbal judo is enough for de-escalation. Unfortunately, this is not the case.”

Before last fall's election, the NDP criticized the previous Progressive Conservative government for not training or hiring facility security officers at hospitals or post-secondary campuses.

Now in opposition, the PCs are calling out the NDP for not arming officers.

“The HSC ER has known and documented safety issues,” Tory health critic Kathleen Cook said Tuesday.

“I would urge the Health Secretary to phone Shared Health urgently to ensure that these ISOs have the tools they need to protect patients and staff.”

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said getting officers trained and in place at the HSC was a “top priority”.

“The previous government had more than two years to do this and nothing was done,” Asagwara said Free press. “We made sure that this was applied to HSC and other hospitals in the first six months of the formation of the government.

“I fully support the improvement and enhancement of safety and security measures at the HSC and hospitals across the province reporting security challenges at their sites. It is very important that healthcare workers not only feel safe, but also safe in their work.”

Asagwara, a registered nurse, said hospital bosses were “fully supportive of their front-line workers taking the necessary measures to ensure their safety”, but decided officers should not be armed with batons and pepper gel just yet.

“Some people may feel nervous or anxious when they see people who look like security or look like police, or they may have a reaction based on their trauma,” Asagwara said. “It is so important that as we move forward with safety improvements — and we will — that we take an informed approach that does not prevent Manitobans from feeling safe accessing this care.

“We want to make sure that everyone is equipped with the tools and information to understand the diverse needs of people accessing health care at the Health Science Center.”

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Carol Sanders
Legislative reporter

After 20 years reporting on the diversity of people who call Manitoba home, Carol moved to the Legislative Bureau in early 2020.

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