Hospital safety: Halifax Infirmary patient recalls own brush with violence [Video]

A former patient at the QEII Halifax Infirmary is speaking out about safety concerns, alleging she witnessed firsthand the kind of violence health-care workers experience.

Mandie Pitre is sharing the story in light of a Code Silver incident on Wednesday in the hospital’s emergency room, where three workers were stabbed. 

“If nothing is done to make sure that there is better safety and security for staff and for patients in the hospital, it’s just going to keep happening,” she said.

Pitre was hospitalized in the orthopaedic unit with a dislocated ankle in September 2024. She says she awoke in the middle of the night and heard another patient speaking with the nursing team on the other side of her alcove.

Suddenly, she recalls, the tone shifted.

“There’s no security on the floor right now, and it’s just these six female nurses, that are all not very big. So then, they’re starting to freak out, and you can hear in their voice …