VANCOUVER – A Kamloops nurse is recovering at home after what the BC Nurses’ Union is calling a brutal assault on Sunday.
The incident happened a few days after a doctor was violently assaulted at a hospital in Penticton.
The attacks highlight what the BCNU says is an increasingly dangerous work environment for health care workers.
According to WorkSafeBC, in 2009 there were 528 acts of violence against health care and social service workers. That number increased steadily to 879 by 2013.
“Health care workers face a huge amount of violence in their day-to-day jobs that people just aren’t aware of,” says Rhonda Bennett, a registered nurse at Vancouver General Hospital who was attacked by a patient last month.
“The patient yelled ‘no’ and just punched,” says Bennett of the attack. She suffered a dislocated jaw, a possible hairline fracture, a misshaped TMJ, and a severely contused masseter muscle, and now largely eats through a straw.
Leslie Russell of Grand Forks is only now returning to work after an attack by a dementia patient left her with a concussion, whiplash, snapped teeth and PTSD.
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“I think that WorkSafeBC and Interior Health have enough information from people like myself that they should be able to get going on safety training,” says Russell.
The most recent attack took place at Hillside Centre, an adult psychiatric facility where staff members have been attacked and injured in the past. A year ago, another nurse was seriously assaulted at the centre. At the time the health authority promised better security but the BCNU says that has not happened. The nurse who was assaulted on Sunday had an alarm with a dead battery and a new alarm system is 18 months overdue.
“Nurses are assaulted almost daily in hospitals across B.C.,” says BCNU president Gayle Duteil in a press release. “In many cases, the assaults could be prevented with better staffing levels, on-site security personnel and alarm systems that work.”
Duteil adds the BCNU has repeatedly requested health authorities take immediate action to provide greater safety to nurses, yet nothing is done.
“This is an issue that should be a concern for all people in B.C.,” she says. “We all need safe patient care.”
-with files from John Daly
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