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Vegreville Mayor Raises Security Concerns at St. Joseph’s General Hospital
Vegreville Mayor Raises Security Concerns at St. Joseph’s General Hospital
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
Security concerns at St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Vegreville have come to light. The issue was raised during Vegreville town council’s legislative committee meeting on January 5.
Mayor Tim MacPhee said security was one of the concerns raised by physicians during a recent meeting they had with them.
Councillor Taneen Rudyk said, “When we first had this discussion, and this was a couple of years ago, the concern has been omnipresent and it hasn’t lessened with covid. The pressures of mental health and the types of patients that they’re seeing even with current restrictions just highlight the need for a better way to be able to screen and protect the staff and patients at the facility.”
During an interview with MacPhee on January 14, he stated, “We as a council have met with the doctors. I have met personally with the hospital, Covenant Health, Alberta Health, and our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Strydom to find out what their concerns were moving forward and security for the employees is one of their main concerns, and it was brought up again with our luncheon with the doctors.
There’s a lot of mental health issues and addiction issues in our community not unlike every other community in this country that has the same thing. When these people are showing up at 10 o’clock at night at the hospital demanding drugs. And they are violent and they don’t have any protection. There needs to be more security measures put in. We need to have the RCMP more aware of these situations as well. I’m having a meeting, hopefully on February 2 with the RCMP head guy for this area and our Staff Sgt. Terry Hyggen about some of the concerns that we have…Again, Covid put this on the backburner for Alberta Health and Covenant Health but it didn’t put it on the backburner for the doctors and the front line workers.
So, we need to keep bringing it up, but it’s not our facility so we can’t make those decisions, but we can keep asking for some help and listen to the staff. They are scared at night. Mental health issues and addiction issues are all across this country and if we don’t soon start recognizing and coming up with creative ways to deal with it there is going to be some death and there’s going to be a lot of problems.
Covenant Health Communications Manager Karen Diaper provided a written statement on behalf of the organization on January 18. It stated, “The safety and security of our staff, patients, and visitors to St Joseph’s General Hospital is a priority for Covenant Health. Security of all Covenant Health facilities is reviewed on a regular basis for changes in community risk profile and associated security/protective services resourcing required.
While we do not have a dedicated security guard at the present time at St Joseph’s General Hospital, we are grateful for the support from the RCMP Detachment in Vegreville, should a situation arise where their intervention would be required.
Covenant Health supports all staff by providing opportunity for Non-violent Crisis Intervention Training. Emergency response codes and procedures are also in place to support teams if and when an incident were to occur. Covenant Health also provides regular training sessions and monthly reviews of emergency response codes.”
