The President and CEO of Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare says there has been lessons learned after a London man took a 'selfie' with a Windsor woman's terminally-ill father.
Bill Marra provided an update after Bubba Christopher Michael Pollock, from London, travelled to Windsor to take a photo with a terminally-ill patient at HDGH after the patients daughter "exposed" Pollock on social media.
On June 15, the Windsor Police Service Major Crimes Unit started an investigation after receiving a report of allegations of harassment.
Investigators learned that the complainant, a 36-year-old woman, was consistently harassed through social media over a period of time regarding a recent Pride event in London.
Marra says they are working to ensure everyone feels safe.
"We are encouraging family members when they have a loved one here, or even if it's the patient herself or himself, if they feel very strongly about visitors or wanting to screen visitors that they let us know that well in advance because that's something we can do. We're really good at creating safety plans, we do that regularly, we can screen for visitors, we can restrict visitors."
He says employees, volunteers, students, and physicians all carry a personal alarm.
"That's a GPS platform so you can activate it and we can have people dispatched within 10 seconds to that location. They can find you very easily. We have a very robust safety plan, we have in-house security, but it's the relationship piece that's really important. So, if you have a loved one here or if you are a patient and you don't want certain people to be here, let us know."
Marra says following the incident he spoke to frontline staff who works in palliative care.
"Just to let them know that this was not their fault. This is a circumstance that was an anomaly beyond our control, and that we need to be really vigilant around recognizing if there's a face or a person that's on the unit that we don't feel should be there, go with your instincts and report it."
Marra adds that Hotel-Dieu is still working closely with the family and police.
Pollock was released following his arrest and will attend court in Windsor at a later date.