Brandon emergency room assault highlights growing safety concerns for nurses, union says

Chelsea Kemp · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 29, 2025 8:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

A caregiver astatine the infirmary successful Brandon, Man., was choked and astir stabbed with a needle by an exigency country diligent Monday — a convulsive incidental that reflects a increasing question of maltreatment and attacks connected health-care workers, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.

The alarming onslaught reflects a troubling inclination successful unit successful exigency departments that has nurses fearing for their information connected the job, says Darlene Jackson,  the union's president.

"It conscionable seems to beryllium escalating, and that is specified a worry," Jackson said. "It feels similar things are not getting better."

She said nurses often don't file reports connected the swearing, threats, punches, spitting oregon different acts they look regular connected the job, which makes it hard to way the afloat fig of convulsive and abusive incidents successful the province.

That means it takes large incidents similar the caller onslaught astatine the Brandon exigency section to gully attraction to these issues, said Jackson.

Brandon constabulary said Monday that aboriginal that morning, they arrested a 26-year-old antheral successful transportation with the latest incident. Police accidental he choked and attempted to stab an exigency country caregiver with a needle.

The caregiver was capable to flight without carnal injuries, constabulary said. They believe the antheral was nether the power of methamphetamine.

He was taken into custody and faces aggregate charges, including battle and battle with a weapon. He was released connected conditions and volition beryllium backmost successful tribunal connected May 20.

The battle is being treated arsenic a superior workplace incident, said Treena Slate, CEO of Prairie Mountain Health. The determination wellness authorization is moving to supply trauma enactment for the caregiver and witnesses, she said successful a statement.

Strengthening information astatine the infirmary is underway arsenic the determination wellness authorization continues to analyse the incident, Slate said.

Growing concerns

A substance usage and addictions crisis successful the southwestern Manitoba metropolis is expanding the risks work providers look connected the job, Brandon constabulary Chief Tyler Bates said. The predominance of meth is making some people unpredictable and aggressive, helium said.

The antheral accused successful the Monday infirmary battle has an extended transgression past dating backmost to 2017, including respective battle convictions, a weapons condemnation and a condemnation for assaulting a constabulary officer, said Bates.

"This isn't the archetypal clip helium has assaulted a work attraction provider," he said. "It's surely idiosyncratic that, you know, is simply a hazard to work attraction providers and a hazard to persons of authorization and positions of attraction for susceptible citizens." 

Bates said helium hopes the speedy involution of organization information officers — a class of information defender with authority to detain radical and enforce provincial laws — at the infirmary shows the determination wellness authorization tin negociate radical who are volatile and contiguous a risk.

Prairie Mountain Health says determination are 4 organization information officers connected displacement astatine the Brandon Hospital, including astatine slightest 1 successful the exigency department, on with different information defender astatine each times.

The determination wellness authorization says it continues to summation defender beingness successful the exigency department, and further guards person completed the people to go organization information officers.

Nurses' national president Jackson says Brandon and different exigency rooms crossed the state request much officers to assistance make harmless workplaces. She credits the officers astatine the Brandon exigency department for helping support the caregiver harmless by intervening, restraining and detaining the attacker connected Monday.

But she fears without changes successful information staffing, incidents volition proceed to escalate.

"We truly request a concerted provincial program that addresses unit towards front-line health-care workers," Jackson said. "We request to spot it rapidly due to the fact that … it's excessively unsafe, it's excessively violent."