HSC nurses fear for their own safety at hospital parkades

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This article was published 05/05/2023 (1227 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The lack of security within Health Sciences Centre’s parkades and surface parking lots has reached untenable levels, with rampant theft leading to fear and low morale, HSC nurses say.

The Free Press spoke to several nurses under condition of anonymity, and all shared similar stories and concerns.

“I feel unsafe all the time.” said one nurse, who has been working at the Winnipeg hospital for 22 years. “This has been the worst year I have ever experienced at Health Sciences Centre.”

Last week, she was called in to assist with a medical emergency and parked in the Tecumseh Street parkade. She arrived around 1:20 a.m., and returned at 2:45 a.m. to find her SUV’s window broken and the vehicle rummaged through.

“I felt completely violated… My car was only there for an hour-and-a-half. What if this person is around a corner? What am I supposed to do, because there’s absolutely nobody around,” she said.

“It’s just a constant fear of what else could happen.”

Another nurse said she was forced to flee from a man who approached her while she was alone in the William Street parkade several months ago. She is now terrified to use the facility, and prefers to park on the street during night shifts, feeling it is safer.

She, too, had her vehicle windows smashed in recent weeks. “I’ve been here almost 11 years. It’s never been like this as long as I’ve worked here.”

Morale is low, people are afraid for their personal safety and the security of their property, both women said.

Their fears are not unfounded.

The area immediately surrounding the hospital is among the most dangerous in the city, with 154 violent crimes reported in 2022. Only the Spence, Central Park and South Point Douglas neighbourhoods logged more violence last year, WPS data shows.

The area also noted a 78.8 per cent increase in reported theft from vehicles, and a 105.3 per cent rise in reported mischief, which includes destruction of property and graffiti. The numbers are 97.9 per cent and 129.2 per cent above the five-year average, respectively.

“I get it’s a unique hospital because we are in a core area, but knowing that we’re in a high-risk neighbourhood they need to make it safer for us… Shared Health needs to reassure us a little bit more,” one nurse said.

“We would all like to know where the money goes for the parking we pay? If it’s not to improve the parkades and make them safer, then where is it going?” said another.

The current monthly fee for the Emily and Tecumseh streets parkades is $119.55. Signs are plastered throughout both, warning patrons to not leave valuable inside vehicles.

Other signs assure people there are security measures in place — but this brings little comfort to nurses who say they seldom see patrols.

Nearly every employee shared concerns parkade cameras and panic buttons are not always operational or monitored.

Shared Heath responded to the allegations via email, saying security staff patrol all parking locations on hospital property. Security cameras in the parkades are routinely monitored and audits are done regularly to ensure they work properly, the provincial branch said.

When asked how often these areas are patrolled, how often audits are conducted, and whether there are security cameras or panic buttons that do not work, Shared Health would not say.

“HSC Winnipeg will not publicly discuss very specific details of its security strategy.”

Shared Health said it is aware of recent break-ins and has implemented numerous enhancements in recent years. “We empathize with anyone on or off our campus who have been victims of vehicle break-ins in recent weeks.”

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said the union is receiving complaints and appeals for support daily. In some cases, HSC staff have returned to their vehicles to find them vandalized — smeared with human feces or used condoms discarded inside.

“I’m not surprised. This problem has being going on for a very long time at Health Sciences Centre, and it’s escalating,” Jackson said by phone. “It is extremely dangerous for those staff going into those parkades… We talk about this all the time, but it’s like it’s not a priority.”

Security offers escorts for people parked on-site, but its capacity is limited, response times are slow and the service does not extend beyond hospital property, Jackson said.

The need for additional security is obvious, Jackson said, but fears change will not come until somebody is injured in one of the parkades.

“It is costly to provide, but what’s the cost of somebody losing their life in a botched robbery or something?”

The province introduced legislation more than four years ago, allowing for the creation of institutional safety officers. The specialized security guards were to be armed with batons, handcuffs and pepper spray, and tasked with patrolling Manitoba hospitals and universities.

Some universities have since installed such officers, but the program has not reached health-care facilities.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

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