Watch above: One theft from a hospital room is too many
SASKATOON – They are a place of recovery and perceived safety but hospitals are not immune from theft.
“Those kinds of calls are never pleasant to go to and we just remind people to keep track of their belongs and make sure they’re locked up,”said Constable Bergeron, with the Saskatoon Police Service.
“If you’re a patient in the hospital make sure that you have a place to lock your belongings up, if you’re visiting take your belongings with you if you have to leave the room or make sure they’re secured.”
Based on police stats from Jan. 1 through to July 31 of this year, there have been 15 thefts at St. Paul’s Hospital, 12 at Royal University Hospital and two at Saskatoon City Hospital. That’s up slightly from last year during the same time period.
Health officials say, on average, there are a total 40 to 50 thefts per year among all three hospitals combined.
A small number given the hundreds of thousands of patients who require hospital stays in the region annually says health officials but also added that incidents like these are unfortunate.
“I think any situation is a concern for the individual that has had that situation happen to them,” said Nilesh Kavia, VP of finance and corporate services for Saskatoon Health Region.
Each site has its own security and there are lockers patients can use to secure their valuables during day surgeries. Patients spending the night are encouraged to leave their valuables at home.
Health officials also admitted that not all incidents that occur at hospital sites are reported to police.
“We have individuals that report theft related issues to our security staff and then we have individuals that would report directly to the police, sometimes both, we encourage anybody that reports to us to also report it to the police,” explained Kavia.
Greeting his wife outside of St. Paul’s Hospital, George Bird said he thinks the number of thefts at area hospitals is more than what health officials say after having to file a police report.
“My wife lost her purse here ago two weeks ago just sitting at the Tim Horton’s, we looked away for one second and it was gone,” said Bird.
A brazen crime as the family waited for their daughter to see a doctor.
“I was actually looking around and I was thinking we better keep an eye on that purse and that’s exactly when it went missing so there’s some quick hands out here.”
Bird say security seemed lax on-site and has concerns the Tim Horton’s is attracting the wrong crowd for a hospital setting.
He said the theft has been a hard pill to swallow given that the family brought their youngest daughter to hospital to ensure her safety and they turned into victims of opportunity.
“Now my wife has to go and we have to try and get her ID again, we lost $180 and its money we can’t afford to lose because of our children,” explained Bird.
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