'I'm going to die': Moncton nurse describes physical, emotional toll from alleged attack
Natasha Poirier says tighter security, better reporting needed
The Moncton nurse who was seriously injured in an alleged attack while working at the Dr.-Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in March says more needs to be done to protect health-care workers from abuse.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the alleged incident, Natasha Poirier described a brutal 14-minute attack at the hands of a patient's husband.
As she progressed in her physical and emotional recovery, Poirier said, she was nearing the point where she felt comfortable returning to her post as a nurse manager.
But that comfort level dissipated earlier this week with news of another attack on a nurse at the hospital.
Asked if she would feel safe returning to work now, Poirier said, "No."
She said the second alleged attack at the hospital in three months prompted her to break her silence.
"It touched home," Poirier told CBC News on Wednesday afternoon.
"It angered me. For the first time since this incident, that angered me. I wasn't angry for myself, but I'm angry about this other nurse. I don't want it to happen to my colleagues.
"Enough is enough."
The alleged attack
Poirier said she didn't know the man who walked into her office on the surgical unit at 2 p.m. on March 11. She didn't know who his wife, the patient, was, either.
"He was standing in front of my desk, demanding his wife be transferred down the hall," she said, describing the beginning of the alleged attack.
She said she asked him to have a seat while she peered through her patient records. The man began explaining, she said, that his wife had a seizure a few days earlier as a result of medication given by a doctor and that he didn't want her situated in front of the nurses station.
"He leaned towards me while he was sitting and said, 'I'll give you three seconds to make a decision," Poirier said.
She said she didn't have time to react before what happened next.
The man rose from his chair, went around her desk and pulled her off her chair by the hair, she said. He grabbed her by the wrist and shook her arm repeatedly, she said, and she started screaming.
He began "bending" her fingers and then struck her in the left temple multiple times until she lost consciousness "for a few seconds," she said. Poirier said she opened her eyes and he punched her in the nose twice and threw her against the walls twice.
"Once I fell to my knees, he tried to pull me up by the hair and that's about when they intervened," she said.
Poirer said two female nurses attempted to get the man off of her, but they couldn't subdue him and one nurse was injured in the process. A male nurse then entered the office and was able to pin the attacker against the wall, she said.
The nurse said, "That's enough" twice, and the man was escorted from the office, Poirier said.
'I'm going to die because no one's coming'
Poirier's account has the attack lasting 14 minutes before help arrived.
She said she later learned her colleagues, who are quite busy tending to surgical unit patients, thought the commotion involved a dementia patient.
"If they thought it was a demented patient and had priorities, that's why they didn't [come]," she said.
Poirier said she understands that and is not upset with the staff. But she said she still remembers the terror.
"'Please help.' That is what I was thinking," Poirier said.
"After I regained consciousness, I thought, 'No, I'm going to die because no one's coming' and 'Just give up. Stop screaming.' And I did. I gave up. This was it for me."
She said hospital staff can call a code white when there is an attack. A code white is when a health-care worker is under attack and all available security is called to that unit.
But "unless someone hears you" or you can reach a phone — which Poirier couldn't, she said — there's little that can be done to stop an attack, she said.
It's a growing problem in New Brunswick hospitals.
Documents released by the New Brunswick Nurses Union reveal there were more than 2,000 code whites at New Brunswick hospitals last year. That's almost double the amount five years ago.
Poirier said hospital administration and government officials need to tighten security "as soon as possible" and she called for legislation to create tougher sentences for attacking health-care workers.
Vitalité Health Network, which runs the Dumont hospital, has said it has a zero-tolerance policy regarding violence in the workplace and these situations are taken "very seriously."
"I've heard the words [zero-tolerance], now show me what that looks like," Poirier said.
She also called on nurses to report incidents of physical and verbal abuse.
Show of solidarity
The incident left Poirier with a concussion, torn finger ligaments, bruised ribs, a broken nose and tremendous emotional damage, she said.
"I feel like I'm getting better. I feel like I'm recognizing myself again. I know I still have a long ways to recover fully, but I'm quite pleased with the progress I've made."
Poirier said the support she's received from family, co-workers, retired nurses and many people she doesn't know both surprised and comforted her. She showed CBC News letters of "solidarity" she received, offering well-wishes and encouraging strength.
As she entered the Moncton courthouse for the accused attacker's first appearance on June 4, she was greeted outside by supporters.
Randy Van Horlick, 69, has been charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm in connection with the alleged attack.
Van Horlick has not entered a plea, and he denies the allegations.
With files from Tori Weldon