Nurses at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre feel unsafe going to and from their vehicles: union president

There isn't enough being done to ensure health-care workers feel safe walking to and from their vehicles at the Health Sciences Centre, their union says.

Darlene Jackson, president of Manitoba Nurses Union, said Tuesday that Shared Health and the provincial government are to blame for a lack of institutional safety officers in the health-care sector.

"I think every employee deserves to have a safe workplace and be able to get back and forth to work safely. I think every employee at HSC and every facility deserves that, to be able to access your vehicle without fear," Jackson said.

Jackson said she's heard from several nurses who feel that their walks from nearby parkades to the Winnipeg hospital are unsafe.

"The parkades are not secure," she said.

Vehicles owned by nurses have been broken into, including one incident about four months ago where a nurse didn't realize her vehicle had been rummaged through until she saw her sunroof had been smashed, Jackson said.

"When she looked in the back seat, someone had used her sweater that she kept in her vehicle as a blanket, and there was a used condom in the back of her vehicle," Jackson said.

Safety officer pledge unfilled

A promise from the provincial government four years ago to have institutional safety officers at hospitals has yet to come to fruition, Jackson says.

She said the union filed a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act a few months ago to see how many institutional safety officers had been hired to be in health-care facilities in the province. That number was zero.

"It feels like the employer is not taking this seriously," she said.

Jackson is hopeful that similar enhanced security measures at Manitoba universities make their way over to health-care facilities sooner than later.

"Health care is suffering right now and I would love to see those institutional safety officers brought into the health-care facilities where they're desperately needed," she said.

In an email from Shared Health, a spokesperson said that the safety of staff and patients at health-care facilities is of "utmost importance" and continues to be a focal point for the organization, as well as for Health Sciences Centre.

Work to introduce institutional safety officers is ongoing, the spokesperson said.

One member of the hospital's security staff received training from a third-party provider last month, and the training will help with future instruction of institutional safety officers in a hospital setting, according to the spokesperson.

Health Sciences Centre has undertaken several initiatives to deter this type of behaviour on campus over the last few years, including hiring additional staff, enhancing lighting at the facility, and providing personal alarms to staff, the spokesperson said.

Escorts offered, but not always available

As long as nurses' vehicles are on campus, they are able to ask security at the hospital for an escort.

But Jackson has been told that security is often busy within the facility, and so it takes a long time for a security officer to be freed up to accommodate the request. Shared Health confirmed that it is unable to provide safety escorts off campus.

Nurses have started to go in groups to their vehicles, as they feel safer with more of their peers, Jackson said.

Jackson believes an uptick in crime, especially in Winnipeg's inner city, is contributing to increasing safety concerns among nurses outside of their employer's doorways.

"I think it's a shame that [the] employer hasn't addressed this," Jackson said.