Nurse Victoria Treacy says she is concerned for the safety of herself and others at Eagle Ridge Hospital after a man wielding a machete threatened emergency room staff and patients on the night of Jan. 14.

Treacy said she was one hour into her shift when, at 8:30 p.m., she heard yelling from an examination room.

"Myself and two co-workers go down the hallway to see what the yelling is, if we need to help someone," she said. "The patient opened the curtain and pulled out a machete, waved it at us and started screaming and yelling and making very aggressive gestures."

Treacy said she was closest to a phone so she called hospital security and then joined staff in evacuating patients from the emergency department to a safer location. Some minutes later, she saw the suspect leave on his own.

"I saw the gentleman ... fully dressed, casually walk out of the building, I imagine, with the machete in his backpack," she said. "Police had been called at this point, and he was apprehended, as far as I know, in the upper parking lot."

Eagle Ridge emergency room nurse Victoria Steacy said the same security arrangements should be in place at Eagle Ridge Hospital as at the larger hospitals in the region. (CBC)

Port Moody police confirm the man was taken into custody under the Mental Health Act and brought to a psychiatric facility.

His identity has not been released pending charges, but police say he is a Maple Ridge man in his late 20s who was under a court-ordered weapons ban at the time of the incident.

The B.C. Nurses Union says nurses are increasingly having to deal with aggressive patients and potentially violent situations in the course of just doing their jobs.

"It's important to recognize that traumatizing incidents like this are behind our continuing call for increased security measures and health-care staffing," said BCNU vice president Tristan Newby.

A 2024 BCNU survey found that 34 per cent of nurses in the Fraser Health District, which includes Port Moody, report that they were exposed to a patient with a weapon at least once a month, according to Newby. Provincewide, the number is higher at 39 per cent.

Newby said Eagle Ridge Hospital has a privately contracted security company, while larger hospitals in the region -- including Royal Columbian and Surrey Memorial -- have specially trained "relationship security officers" (RSOs) who have proven to be more effective.

"[RSO's] primary focus is on prevention. They're fully integrated into the health-care team, so it's not somebody you're calling from an office four floors away," he said.

"We are calling on the government to expand the RSO program. We would like to see all emergency departments in the province have these officers present."

Steacy said the gap in security provision across hospitals in the region is hard to understand.

"I feel less than someone working at a bigger site that has different security measures and different support systems," she said.

According to BCNU records, this is the third violent incident at Eagle Ridge Hospital in the past two months.

On Nov. 20, a nurse was assaulted by a patient and left with serious injuries. A 41-year-old man with no fixed address has been charged with assault causing bodily harm.

Port Moody police media relations officer Const. Sam Zacharias said it's not uncommon for officers to be called to Eagle Ridge Hospital to assist staff in de-escalating situations.

"Incidents like this, I would say, are not super common, thankfully, but certainly very concerning for everybody," he said.