BARRIE, ONT. -- Dozens of people took part in a rally against violence in the workplace at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket on Monday in the wake of a patient attack on a registered practical nurse last week.
SEIU Healthcare organized the event following the assault Thursday night, just six days after another nurse was injured while at work.
The union is demanding immediate action, including a meeting with key stakeholders.
On Oct. 16, the hospital was fined $80,000 in connection to a January 2019 incident where a 21-year-old patient violently assaulted a registered nurse and a security guard in the emergency department.
"Nurses across Ontario are already putting their lives on the line each day as they fight COVID-19. Violence in the workplace is something nurses should not have to worry about.
If Southlake's leadership can't solve the ongoing violence taking place in their hospital, and it's evident at this point they can't, then the government should immediately step in to fix an underfunded system that puts all hospital workers at risk," said SEIU Healthcare Nursing Division president Jackie Walker.
SEIU Healthcare represents more than 60,000 frontline healthcare workers, including over 7,500 nurses.
