Two nurses are talking out about violent incidents they skilled whereas working within the emergency division at Eagle Ridge Hospital (ERH) in Port Moody, B.C. — saying the Fraser Well being Authority (FHA) has failed to supply a protected working setting, and has sought to silence staff who communicate out.
Veteran nurse Arden Foley says she isn’t returning to work due to lingering publish traumatic stress from an assault by a affected person. Victoria Treacy, says she was suspended and positioned beneath investigation by Fraser Well being after she spoke out a few affected person who threatened her colleagues with a machete.
The well being authority mentioned Treacy, who presently works on the hospital as an informal FHA worker, wasn’t suspended or put beneath investigation.
Nevertheless, the ladies’s tales are two of many included in a lawsuit filed in opposition to the well being authority within the B.C. Supreme Court docket in Vancouver on June 6.
WATCH | Fraser Well being nurses communicate out:
Nurses communicate out in opposition to violence, machete assault at Fraser Well being ERs
Two emergency nurses, whose tales are featured in an ER physician’s lawsuit in opposition to the Fraser Well being Authority, are talking out in regards to the violence and security considerations skilled by hospital staff, which they are saying embody a damaged jaw and machete assaults.
Within the lawsuit, emergency doctor Kaitlin Stockton alleges that her job was threatened by the authority after she tried to warn sufferers about prolonged delays within the ER.
It additionally alleges that deteriorating work circumstances in emergency rooms have led to preventable deaths, and describes a slew of violent incidents in opposition to staff.
In a single occasion, a nurse was allegedly strangled by a affected person, and after eight weeks off work, suffered 4 damaged ribs from a separate assault. In one other, a doctor allegedly suffered accidents after being attacked by a pit bull within the ER.
“These occasions are so frequent that they’re normalized and are hardly ever if ever acknowledged by FHA administration and management,” the lawsuit alleges.
Within the lawsuit, Dr. Kaitlin Stockton alleged that her job was threatened by the Fraser Well being Authority after she tried to warn sufferers about prolonged delays within the ER. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Fraser Well being informed CBC Information it doesn’t touch upon issues which might be earlier than the courts.
When CBC Information requested about violent incidents, the authority responded with an announcement.
“We’re deeply involved in regards to the violent incidents that occurred at Eagle Ridge Hospital in November 2024 and January 2025 and the affect it had on employees and medical employees,” the authority mentioned within the assertion.
“In March 2025, we elevated safety staffing within the Emergency Division at Eagle Ridge Hospital in direct response to current violent incidents. We additionally strengthened coaching for web site safety and elevated on-the-floor teaching to make sure employees are totally ready to reply successfully.”
Talking out after assault
Treacy, 37, was working an evening shift in ERH’s emergency division in January 2025 when a person threatened employees by yelling and wielding a big machete. Treacy mentioned she referred to as safety and assisted her colleagues in evacuating sufferers from the realm.
She then spoke to a number of media shops, saying the incident led her to concern for her personal security and that of her colleagues and sufferers. She mentioned the identical normal of safety must be in place at ERH as there may be at bigger hospitals within the area.
A number of days later, Treacy says she was contacted by the journey nurse company that contracts her to Fraser Well being.
In keeping with the lawsuit, she was informed the well being authority was asking her to not are available for her subsequent scheduled shift as a result of she was being positioned beneath investigation.
The lawsuit states “after FHA did not take motion or implement adjustments following the January 14th, 2025 machete incident, the nurse who had been threatened by the affected person went public to advocate for higher safety measures at ERH. In response, FHA initiated an investigation into the nurse and suspended her through the course of.”
In an announcement, Fraser Well being mentioned it “didn’t droop the company nurse concerned, nor did we provoke an investigation into their conduct.”
“We acknowledge that this was a traumatic and distressing occasion for everybody concerned and perceive that health-care staff typically face extremely difficult conditions.”
However Treacy mentioned in an interview with CBC, that her understanding was that she was being fired.
“I (spent) a whole weekend pondering my job and my profession had been jeopardized,” she mentioned.
“To talk out about security and my private expertise and to be informed not to return to work was extraordinarily devastating and intensely worrying.”
Eagle Ridge Hospital is in Port Moody, B.C., about 20 kilometres east of Vancouver. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Treacy mentioned as a result of she was a journey nurse beneath contract on the time, she by no means signed documentation stopping her from chatting with journalists.
“My fundamental message with these interviews was to ask for assist and say these are the issues which might be really occurring,” she mentioned.
“I simply by no means thought that asking for assist and asking for security in our office would probably affect me.”
The incident is listed within the lawsuit in opposition to Fraser Well being as one instance of “a psychologically unsafe and poisonous office, the place employees concern talking out or advocating for themselves and sufferers because of a tradition of retaliation in opposition to those that do.”
Jaw dislocated, PTSD
Foley has labored as a nurse for 46 years, in a profession that took her from the working room to the emergency ward.
Foley mentioned she is talking out now as a result of she not works on the well being authority.
She mentioned that on Nov. 20, 2024, she was on shift at ERH when she was badly injured by a affected person who had suffered an overdose.
Foley mentioned she was within the strategy of unhooking them from a machine in an effort to discharge them, once they all of a sudden and violently kicked her within the head. The power of the kick allegedly slammed her in opposition to a wall.
In keeping with the lawsuit “the assault left the nurse with a jaw dislocation, a concussion, and PTSD. This nurse has not been in a position to return to work.”
Foley filed a declare with WorkSafeBC and pressed expenses in opposition to the affected person.
“It took me weeks simply to not consider him and the incident. I felt very indignant on the time. I did not really feel that I had performed something flawed and but I used to be nonetheless blaming myself, pondering possibly I may have performed issues totally different,” she mentioned.
“I’ve by no means skilled an assault or violence or aggression as I did that day.”
In an announcement, the well being authority mentioned “a Fraser Well being supervisor reached out to the nurse on November 21 to supply their assist and talk the helps and sources which might be accessible by Fraser Well being for workers who’ve skilled violence within the office.”
Foley accessed counselling to assist with the signs of her post-traumatic stress, however finally determined to not return to nursing after talking along with her colleagues.
“Everybody I talked to there was telling me how the state of affairs had deteriorated — the working circumstances, the elevated workload, and situations of aggressive, abusive behaviour towards our employees and different sufferers,” she mentioned.
“Dropping my id as a nurse was what this incident has value me — I misplaced my id with my profession, and now it is over.”
The B.C. Nurses’ Union (BCNU) mentioned the variety of violent incidents that power their members to take break day work has been on the rise. In keeping with the union’s web site, they symbolize about 50,000 nurses.
BCNU mentioned the variety of claims for nursing employees — together with licensed sensible nurses, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses and nursing coordinators and supervisors — climbed 48 per cent from about 29 a month in 2016 to about 43 a month in 2024.
“None of us had been ever anticipating that this sort of violence would happen in our careers. It has escalated dramatically even since I turned a nurse and sadly we do want higher security measures,” Treacy mentioned.
“It’s not a world I wish to stay in, however sadly, these are the issues we’re being confronted with.”
