Alberta Nurses Demand Hospital Weapons Scanners

0:00Nurses in Alberta are pushing hard for weapons scanners at busy city hospitals after a brutal stabbing in Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital. Emergency room Last Friday, a 42-year-old man got stabbed with edged weapons during a fight around 6.15 pm, leaving him with life-dreading, injuries. The United Nurses of Alberta President Heather Smith says her members deal with violence threats almost every day. The province's health minister, Matt Jones, promised to speed up screening there and added more security right away. But Smith fired back in a letter, saying they've been begging for this since 2023, and other hospitals needed to. She's also demanding steady funding for protective officers everywhere. Nurses are fed up and scared, with a survey showing 4 in 10, based physical attacks like punches last year. Smith ties it to packed emergency rooms from overcrowding where long waits spark fights. She wants the government to own that and build more capacity to fix it.

1:00Other provinces are ahead. Manitoba funded police and scanners after nurses called a hospital, too dangerous. Saskatchewan's adding detectors, and Nova. Scotia wrote out AI screening. In Alberta, the weapons program bid closed, with installation now set for May at Royal Alexandra. Governments hiring over 100 more protective staff on top of $130 million yearly for security. Plus expanding emergency rooms, everyone agrees, no one should feel unsafe getting care or working there, so they're pushing these changes fast. Canada news today, powered by AI bringing you what matters. I'm Corey, with the story.