Assaults on nurse, aide at HSC show need for better security at Manitoba hospitals: nurses' union

Assaults against a health-care aide and a nurse by a patient experiencing a mental health issue at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre last weekend underscore problems with safety at the province's hospitals, the Manitoba Nurses Union says.

"We are seeing violent incidents almost every day," union president Darlene Jackson told CBC News.

"Front-line workers are not there to be hit or to be spit on or to be threatened, and they need to do something to protect them quickly."

Details on the incident are scarce, but Jackson said it happened on Sunday, when a patient at the emergency room of the core-area hospital became violent. A nurse and a health-care aide were assaulted.

Neither worker required medical treatment, but "they are undoubtedly shaken up and traumatized by that situation," sai