ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Nurses at Rochester General Hospital are calling for increased safety measures after a man was arrested for pointing a gun at employees last Friday.
Gregory Strickland appeared in court earlier Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. News10NBC’s Tom Kowalski breaks down how the incident happened and what nurses want to see change.
Calling out concerns
“We want to make sure that nurses need to feel safe. Patients need to feel safe when they’re in the hospital. You know, they’re there for whatever health reasons. They don’t need to be fearful of things like this occurring,” Moran said.
Moran has been a registered nurse at Rochester General Hospital for 19 years and is a board member of the Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals. She wasn’t there the day this happened, but says this isn’t the only time something like this has occurred at the hospital — just last year, a nurse was nearly choked to death in the parking garage.
“Part of the reason why we built our union was to address safety and security concerns regarding staffing, not having enough boots on the ground. It’s not just nursing that’s shorthanded on the floors. Security is as well,” Moran said.
How it happened
In a statement, Rochester General Hospital said Strickland’s weapon came up on its screening process, but he “failed to comply with additional screenings” before heading into the hospital. According to eyewitnesses, he began demanding his brother be released from the hospital.
When nurses told Strickland his brother isn’t medically cleared to leave, Strickland showed off the gun in his waistband. When security arrived, Strickland pointed the gun at them before another security officer pulled a gun on him and got Strickland to drop his weapon before being detained. Multiple witnesses say they feared for their lives.
“More security, more training. There are, you know, upgrades that need to happen on the units, at the entrances. We’ve had a workplace violence committee meeting that has been put into place. And even, you know, the irony is, right before this event happened, they notified us they were canceling the April committee meeting,” Moran said. She added RUNAP is working to get those meetings back up.
Strickland’s charges
Strickland is now facing three charges of criminal possession of a weapon and menacing a peace officer.
“We take this kind of case extremely seriously. The conduct is extremely serious,” said Aaron Rath, assistant district attorney for Monroe County.
Strickland could face up to 15 years in prison. He is still in the Monroe County Jail on $50,000 bail.
The post ‘We want to make sure nurses need to feel safe’: RGH nurses call for increased security after man with gun arrested in hospital appeared first on WHEC.com.
