Physical and verbal harassment towards staff won’t be tolerated at the Dryden Regional Health Centre.
That’s the message from President and CEO Doreen Armstrong Ross.
This comes as the Kenora Hospital reported an increase in harassment from members of the public towards health care staff.
“It’s a good reminder to treat people with respect and kindness,” stresses Armstrong Ross. “We have a complaint process here that we can always take those issues but directing them at front line staff who are just following policies is just not appropriate.”
Armstrong Ross notes there’s been lots of changes throughout the pandemic from visiting hours to vaccination.
“There’s different view points on masking and vaccination and all that. You hear terms like COVID fatigue and it’s probably all impacting how people are dealing with things.”
Armstrong Ross continues, “But ultimately the staff are doing what is being asked of them to do, and there are certainly other ways that people can let their concerns be known rather than be inappropriate with any staff.”
She adds it’s not just a concern in the health care sector but across all public service sectors.
“We’ve put, at various points during the pandemic, we’ve had messages on our Facebook about being kind and that sort of thing. We also do have internal policies in place if staff are experiencing that, how they can get support for dealing with someone who is not acting appropriate.”
DRHC did not submit statistics by time of publishing but earlier this week the Lake of the Woods District Hospital reported harassment complaints are up by 300 percent.
