The mayor of Winkler is calling on the Southern Regional Health Authority to pay for $19,000 in overtime policing costs that accumulated when officers spent nearly a week with an individual at Boundary Trails Health Centre for a mental health call.
Winkler Mayor Martin Harder told CTV News he has sent the health authority an invoice.
“We are not a provincial authority. We have no authority for anybody outside. The Boundary Trails Hospital is a regional health centre, so therefore it shouldn’t be the taxpayers of Winkler that should be responsible to pay the bill,” said Harder.
Under section 15(1) of the Mental Health Act:
“A peace officer who takes a person into custody for an involuntary medical examination under section 11 or 12 or an involuntary psychiatric assessment under section 9 shall remain with the person and retain custody of them, or arrange for another peace officer to do so, until the examination or assessment is completed or the person is admitted to the facility.”
According to Ryan Hunt, chief of the Winkler Police Service, the incident happened in February, with two officers staying with the individual around-the-clock for more than six days.
Hunt has a staff of 19 officers to meet the needs of the small city. Each shift is ten hours, with four officers working per shift.
"As soon as two of them are taken away to other duties at the hospital, then we're short-handed."
Harder said he wants to see continuity with how hospitals are staffed for security and admitting, and is now bringing a resolution before the Association of Manitoba Municipalities regarding the Mental Health Act.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Southern Health-Santé Sud wrote:
“Southern Health-Santé Sud staff, visitors and patients should feel safe when they are in a health-care centre. In March of this year, the province ordered a review of safety and security programs, services and systems at Manitoba health-care facilities. This review intends to establish consistent standards at health-care facilities across the province. The expert recommendations of this security review will help Southern Health-Santé Sud find new and better ways of mitigating the risk and severity of safety incidents. Additionally, the region is reviewing possible provisional options which could be implemented to mitigate immediate risks, pending outcome recommendations of the review.”
A request for proposals for the province’s review of security programs was released on March 11. A spokesperson for the health minister’s office said it continues to work with regional health authorities and organizations to ensure people can access timely mental health services.
