Nurse says he won't vote to grey list St. Boniface as hospital takes steps to boost security

WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

As nurses at a Winnipeg hospital weigh whether to vote to designate the facility as unsafe, one nurse says he's already made up his mind not to support that designation.

René Piché, who has been working as a nurse at St. Boniface Hospital for over two years and now works in the hospital's cardiac intensive care unit, said he's never had concerns about safety while working at the hospital, but acknowledged that his experience may differ from those working in the emergency room or other medical units.

"I don't see a future where [the hospital] would be grey listed, to be honest," he told CBC News on Thursday. "I don't think I'd really be voting in favour of it."

The Manitoba Nurses Union, which represents more than 13,000 nurses, plans to hold a vote on whether to declare the hospital an unsafe workplace and discourage members from working there — commonly known as "grey listing."

That comes after a nurse was sexually assaulted in the hospital's parkade on the night of Nov. 8. Hospital security noticed a suspect hours later and held him for police, who charged a 27-year-old man with sexual assault.

Piché says the hospital has been proactive when it comes to safety, boosting overnight security in its parkade, locking the parkade doors and offering a safety app to help staff stay informed.

If the vote were to pass, St. Boniface Hospital would become the third Manitoba hospital to be grey listed by nurses in recent months.

Last November, nurses in Thompson voted to grey list the northern Manitoba city's hospital in light of staff vacancies, violence and what they called inaction from management on improving working conditions.

Nurses voted to grey list Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre in August amid safety concerns. The vote followed a string of crimes around the central Winnipeg hospital, including five sexual assaults — two involving nurses — in early July.

The date of the St. Boniface vote has not been set, Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said Thursday.

Jackson said while she appreciates Piché's response to the vote, she's had many conversations with St. Boniface nurses who have major safety concerns at work.

Nurses working in different areas of a hospital will have different experiences of the facility, with some being exposed to more violence than others.

"We have to look at what our colleagues are experiencing and make a decision" on grey listing, she said.