Manitoba Nurses Union sounds alarm on ER safety in rural Westman

Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.

Union president Darlene Jackson says nurses are facing daily safety issues in the Swan Valley Health Centre emergency room. She says there's aggression and violence from patients, some of the security cameras don't work and claims at times there's no security in the emergency room.

"It's just becoming more unsafe," Jackson said. "We need to deal with these issues now."

Nurses are being assaulted, having things thrown at them, or receiving threats from patients, she says, and some dread coming into the workplace because of the uncertainty and dangers they face each day. 

She says incidents in the emergency room have continued to escalate in the community, located 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, since they first started three years ago.

These fears grew after a recent homicide in the community that led to several facilities into lockdown downtown — but the hospital remained open.

For the union, the top priorities are getting all on-site cameras working and having consistent security at the facility. Jackson says they'd also like to see an institutional safety officers in the emergency room.

For now, the emergency room is staffed by two nurses 12 hours a day, with an additional nurse working eight hours Monday to Friday. During night shifts there are only two nurses.

It's up to Prairie Mountain Health and the province to rectify these issues and to ensure nurses, other front-line workers, patients, visitors and families feel safe in the emergency room, Jackson said.

Feeling unsafe

Rayna Badowski says she doesn't feel safe taking her family, including her young children aged eight and 12, to the emergency room. Her biggest concern is those who appear to be using substances making the facility unsafe.

"It's really dangerous with the people that are walking in there," Badowski said. "It's so unpredictable in Swan right now, you never know what you're going to run into at the hospital."

It's part of a larger issue in the community where, she says drug use and needle distribution have made Swan River unsafe.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, Prairie Mountain Health said the Swan Valley Health Centre has had one security member on site 24/7 since 2018.

The health authority says there are 198 staff at the hospital — including 29 that work in the emergency department.

Glenda Short, Prairie Mountain Health regional lead of continuing and community care, said a Swan River working group was created at the end of October to address concerns about security cameras and guards. It's developed an action plan that includes safe work procedures for staff and strategies to tackle these issues.

She said Prairie Mountain Health has repaired the facility's PA system and is planning to replace security cameras.

'Safety is not negotiable'

Swan River's mayor says the issues in the hospital emergency room are a symptom of a larger issue of drug trafficking and substance use in the community.

"These are all things that they're just all kind of coming together," Lance Jacobson said. "Nurses ... have been dealing with this for some time, and I think that they just had enough and they are afraid to work in these conditions."

RCMP say crime levels in Swan River have remained steady over the last couple years. Sgt. Paul Manaigre says from January to October of this year there were 141 assaults, and 56 cases of uttering threats in the community of just over 4,000.

The community has also seen 14 drug trafficking and 11 possession charges.

Jacobson spoke with the Prairie Mountain Health CEO Friday about the situation, and Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith recently visited Swan River to talk about these issues with a focus on addressing substance use in the community.

He says Swan River needs more support like rehab facilities and officers on the ground to help curb drug use and crime.

Jacobson worries if nothing is done to curb substance use, drug trafficking and other issues making people feel unsafe, Swan River will struggle to recruit health-care workers.

With the current conditions in the emergency room, some nurses are eyeing work in other parts of the province where the workspace is safer, says Jackson.

"Safety is not negotiable," Jackson said. "I'm hoping that by, you know, employers and governments stepping up and actually providing safe workplaces ... that will turn the tide."