SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
On the evening of Nov. 20, a man walked into the emergency department at Stanton Territorial Hospital. By about 9:30 p.m. he was in police custody.

A secure, lockable door between the triage nurses station, pictured, and the public waiting areas in Stanton Territorial Hospital is among the requests to hospital administration made by nurses concerned about their safety. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

What happened between his arrival and when police were able to contain the situation has left hospital nurses and staff calling for immediate improvements to hospital security.

Witnesses to the events of that evening were not willing to comment for fear of employer reprisal, save for one hospital worker who did on the condition that Yellowknifer protect his identity.

According to the source, the man taken into custody was first attended to by a physician in the emergency department. He was discharged without receiving whatever treatment he expected and shortly flew into a rage that left nurses scrambling for safety behind locked doors and caused "thousands of dollars" of damage to hospital equipment.

"He literally tore the place to pieces," the source said.

"Nurses were locked into rooms afraid to come out. He was throwing equipment around, tipping carts upside down. He chased nurses around with IV poles."

Privately contracted security guards at the hospital were unable to contain the situation, the source said.

"There's a lot ... that goes on in that building that doesn't get reported. It's absolutely amazing ... and the public is not aware of it," the source said.

"This is something that happens on quite a regular basis, but not at that level of intensity."

Internal Stanton hospital records obtained by Yellowknifer show that over the months of April, May and June, 18 incidents of physical attacks or attempts to lash out at nurses and staff at Stanton were reported in multiple departments.

Over the months of October, November and December 2013, approximately 20 physical attacks, or attempts to strike out at staff, were recorded.

Some of these incidents were multiple incidents involving the same patient, but they include a range of physical contact with staff and nurses that include being punched, bit, grabbed at the throat, kicked, slapped and grabbed by the hair.

Specific examples from the incident report include: "Psychotic pt (patient) threatening staff, 'I will shoot you all;'" "Pt grabbed nurse by throat during bath;" and "Pt intoxicated, physically aggressive and pinching, punching staff."

These are only the formally reported incidents. The source added these kinds of incidents generally go under-reported.

"This is an extreme incident, but nurses getting abused is a daily occurrence," the source said. "Getting slapped, punched, spit on ... it's an everyday thing."

Sheila Laity is president of UNW local 11 which represents staff at Stanton. Speaking as the unionized staff representative at the hospital, the nurse practitioner has 22 years experience at Stanton in various departments, including the emergency department.

Laity said action has to be taken now to protect staff, patients and visitors.

"This is not the first incident of property damage, nor is it the first incident of threatened staff, nor is it the first incident where people have narrowly escaped being injured," Laity said.

"The bottom line is this is one episode in a series. I have been here 22 years and there have been multiple episodes of violence ... (this recent incident) has brought it to the forefront."

"It is only a matter of time before we see grave personal damage occur. These were near misses."

A meeting of nursing staff was held and the union is carrying forward key requests to hospital administration.

The requests include an increased number of "panic buttons" located throughout the hospital so that staff can quickly alert other departments and the RCMP when assistance is required, and a secure, lockable, door between the triage nurses station and public waiting areas.

"We need to be able to secure our triage so that the only people who come through are those with a card swipe or those who have the door opened for them," Laity said.

A principal request is that administration enable security staff, or hire new security, who are able to physically intervene in a crisis situation.

Currently, Laity said, hospital security is not allowed to physically intervene in situations like the most recent event. When asked if this meant that hospital staff are essentially unprotected, Laity agreed.

Instead, current hospital security is mandated to perform building security - an important job to be sure, Laity said, but not one with a broad enough scope to keep staff, patients and visitors safe.

When Laity was asked if staff at Stanton are safe, she did not hesitate to say, "no."

"When you go to work, you're always on alert," Laity said. "When you're an emergency nurse, you're on alert for medical conditions, but you also just never know when people will become violent. Sometimes you can see people escalate, sometimes you can't."

Laity has heard from staff that they need "trained security staff that are allowed to help to ensure safety for the patients, the visitors and the staff that are working."

"It is a basic human right that we have that personal security," Laity added.

"You shouldn't consider it a risky behaviour to come in with your child to the emergency department to see your doctor."

When the Stanton Territorial Health Authority was contacted for comment on the incident, Yellowknifer was referred to the GNWT Department of Health and Social Services. When Health and Social Services was contacted to arrange an phone interview surrounding security procedures related to the Nov. 20 incident, the department declined the opportunity to arrange that interview, unless provided with a written list of questions first.

RCMP Const. Elenore Sturko confirmed that a person who "had caused damage at the hospital" was taken into custody that evening, and was returned the next day to the hospital for unspecified treatment.

"We did arrest someone at the hospital for mischief," Sturko said.

Mischief is the charge in incidents of property damage.

"(He was) brought to the cells and lodged. The reason (he was) lodged was to prevent the continuation of the offence."

At press time, charges of mischief remained pending against the man.

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