With the increase in armed violence, the Sacré-Coeur-de-Montréal hospital is facing a new security challenge: patients with gunshot wounds are sometimes admitted with firearms in their possession. All users must now submit to an inspection of their bag and their coat at the entrance to the emergency room.
Specializing in traumatology, the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur-de-Montréal plays a crucial role in the care of patients with gunshot wounds, which has skyrocketed in recent years. The number of hospitalizations for firearm injuries increased from 10 in 2017-2018 to 27 in 2021-2022.
The hospital’s trauma team is in the thick of the action. Time is running out to save the lives of these young victims who do not always cooperate, as reported The Press in an immersive report last spring1. Staff sometimes go so far as to risk their own safety to provide care.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Mélanie Charbonneau, Assistant to the Interim Deputy President and CEO at the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
“When treating an injured person [par arme à feu]the chances are greater that the patient and the visitors have weapons on them as well,” explains Mélanie Charbonneau, Assistant to the Interim Deputy President and CEO at the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.
Two firearms were seized by hospital security in October 2021. These weapons were found by chance in the personal belongings of a patient upon admission to the hospital. The team also intervened in several events related to users or armed visitors.
A hundred dangerous objects
Since December, security guards have systematically checked the personal belongings of patients and visitors. This pilot project, first implemented at Jean-Talon Hospital for two weeks in the fall, aims to improve the safety of staff, users and visitors to the hospital centre.
Objects that are not safe or prohibited in the hospital, such as Swiss Army knives, retractable knives or bottles of alcohol, are placed in lockers. Users then pick them up when they leave.
Between December 12, 2022 and January 22, 2023, 183 dangerous objects were discovered, which represents an average of 5 dangerous objects per day. However, no illegal objects, such as a firearm, were seized.
Last Monday, when passing The Press, many patients flocked to the security workers. Barely entering the emergency, Josefina Hernandez places her bags on the table in front of the security worker, Carl Brabant. “I don’t mind him watching. When you have nothing to hide, there is no problem,” says the lady, who has been coming for a week to visit her husband hospitalized in the emergency room, with a smile.
A few minutes later, Mr. Brabant questions a patient, Jean-Yves Simard, about the contents of his pockets. The man pulls out a small penknife. “As a preventive measure, we will have to put him in a locker,” explains the speaker. ” No problem. I always drag my Swiss army knife, because there are plenty of tools on it,” says Mr. Simard.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Security worker Carl Brabant stores patient Jean-Yves Simard’s small penknife in a locker.
The pilot project is well received, notes Mr. Brabant. “In general, people collaborate,” he says. In the event that a user does not wish to submit to the visual inspection, the bag and the coat are left in the locker, then collected at the exit.
Mélanie Charbonneau, of the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, is aware that it will still take time to adapt.
We’re used to being searched at the airport. There are particular contexts where it is part of the culture. This is the first time that we have implemented this in one of our hospitals.
Mélanie Charbonneau, Assistant to the Interim Deputy President and CEO at the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
Affected sense of security
The rise in gun violence in Greater Montreal “has affected employees’ sense of safety,” said Ms.me Charbonneau. This feeling of insecurity among staff increases the difficulty of retention and sick leave, according to her.
The implementation of verification has however succeeded in reassuring some of them. The sense of security of emergency personnel thus went from an average of 5.25 on a scale of 10 before the implementation of the pilot project to 7.34 after its implementation, revealed a questionnaire completed by about thirty emergency personnel. Moreover, more than 80% of employees said they were in favor of maintaining audits.
In February, the CIUSSS submitted requests for funding to the Government of Quebec to be able to maintain the project permanently at the Sacré-Coeur, Fleury and Jean-Talon hospitals. He is still awaiting a response.