Officials at Elliot Lake's St. Joseph's General Hospital (ELSJGH) on Spine Road orchestrated a speedy recovery after a violent incident late Friday morning when a man damaged equipment and fixtures in the Emergency Department.
Hospital CEO Pierre Ozolins said he was thankful there were no injuries during the incident.
Following the incident, there was a temporary halt to ELSJGH emergency services and ambulances were directed to hospital in Blind River while Elliot Lake went on bypass.
After that it was all hands on deck as hospital staff cleaned up the wreckage and got services restored to provide a safe environment for staff and patients later Friday.
Officers from East Algoma OPP in Elliot Lake responded to the incident referred to as a Code White (violence).
At the same time, the President of the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), Vicki McKenna (RN), has called on St. Joseph's General Hospital – and all provincial healthcare leaders – to take immediate action to keep healthcare workers and their patients safe from violence.
"A serious incident in the emergency room of St. Joseph's General Hospital has again demonstrated just how unprepared this and many employers are for workplace violence," McKenna stated in a news release issued today.
"It is unacceptable that a patient was able to do extensive damage in the hospital while registered nurses and healthcare professionals – and their patients – were unprotected.
"From what we understand, the issues that are being investigated include whether there were any security personnel on site, whether the code white called by registered nurses and staff could be heard by everyone, and how sufficiently trained staff were on the proper use of panic buttons."
The ONA says that workplace violence in healthcare is an ongoing and very serious concern. "The pandemic has raised the level of stress and tension for health-care staff and patients alike," said McKenna.
"The last thing our skilled and dedicated front-line nurses and health-care professionals need to worry about is violence."
In many cases of violence, police deliver patients in an ER and leave them to be cared for by registered nurses, she added. Too often, there is a lack of security, staff, training and policies and procedures for unpredictable patients. This serves to put staff and their patients at risk. McKenna says there must be government action to ensure this does not continue.
ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.