Union officials say a brutal attack on a health-care worker at an Edmonton mental health hospital highlights the need for better support and protection for frontline workers experiencing violence on the job.
Police say charges have been laid after a man was attacked on Christmas Day at the Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. The 300-bed drug and mental health facility is operated by Recovery Alberta in the city's northeast.
In a statement, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees described the attack as a brutal workplace attack that left an essential health-care worker injured and facility staff injured.
Details are limited about where the attack took place and about the two patients believed to be involved in the attack.
In a statement to CBC on Wednesday, police said officers received a call around 2 a.m. on Dec. 25 to respond to an assault at the hospital.
A man was taken from the scene with serious, non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police said two male suspects were arrested and charges are pending. The injured worker has since been released from the hospital, police said.
In a statement to CBC on Friday, Recovery Alberta said a staff member was seriously injured during the incident involving two patients and emergency protocols were immediately activated.
“Recovery Alberta takes workplace violence very seriously and the safety of our employees and patients is a top priority. While incidents of this nature are rare, any incident is taken extremely seriously.”
The facility, once run by Alberta Health Services, is now run by Recovery Alberta after the provincial government began a sweeping restructuring of Alberta's health care system.
The agency said it would not comment further out of respect for the investigation and the employee's privacy.
“Our focus remains on supporting the injured employee and all affected personnel while ensuring patients continue to receive safe and appropriate care.”
“Incredibly disappointed”
Alberta Provincial Employees Union criticizes how the attack was handled by Recovery Alberta.
According to the union, the hospital administration failed to properly report the incident.
“We are incredibly disappointed by Recovery Alberta's failure to follow established procedures for reporting serious incidents,” the union said in a statement to CBC on Thursday.
“The employer failed to follow important steps that immediately followed such incidents, which then delayed outreach and support to AUPE members.”
The union said it is committed to ensuring its workers have full access to support when they encounter difficulties. health and safety issuesincluding workplace violence.
“It is an unacceptable reality that healthcare workers are often victims of workplace violence and are subject to both psychological and physical harm,” AUPE said in a statement.
“This is a widespread problem that creates even greater difficulties for workers as they struggle with staff shortages and high workloads.”
United Alberta Nurses Local 183 president Michael Perry called the attack a shocking incident that has left workers at the hospital and beyond worried about their safety.
“We want to express our condolences not only to the worker who was involved in this incident, but also to the workers who were affected by this incident,” Perry said in an interview Friday.
“People are very worried. It happened there. Could it happen to us?”
Perry said he looks forward to the results of the investigation by provincial workplace safety officials. He said the union hopes the review will provide greater clarity about how the worker was harmed and will lead to recommendations for preventing such attacks.
Representatives from the Ministry of Occupational Health and Safety and Rick Wilson, Alberta's minister of mental health and addictions, did not respond to requests for comment.
Perry repeated AUPE's calls for better support for workers affected by attack.
While Recovery Alberta promised to provide employees with timely and accessible mental health services, that support was hampered by the agency's new role as a provider of addictions and mental health services, Perry said.
THe said the attack comes at a time when promised support is not yet ready due to the slow transition to Alberta's recovery program.
“Too common”
Perry said the incident highlights the importance of promptly reporting workplace violence and providing mental health support.
Workforce violence is widespread in health care settings, where workers are often exposed to physical, psychological and verbal abuse, Perry said.
Nurses and healthcare unions across the country have recorded an alarming surge in such incidents in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And that trend, Perry said, continues as the system remains energized.
“The threat of violence, verbal violence, psychological violence that happens in our workplaces in general is really a problem in our health care system,” Perry said.
“It's too common.”
