It was just after 11 p.m. on July 19, 2017.
Charles Kraeling raced up to the Cowichan District Hospital patient floor and saw nurses backing out of a room with their hands up.
Moments earlier, the protection service officer at the hospital had received a “Code White,” alerting him to a violent patient swinging a knife in one of the rooms.
“As soon as I got there I definitely heard a commotion in that wing of the floor,” Kraeling recalled Tuesday, one week after he received an international bravery award.
“When the nurses went by me, I stood at the entrance to the room and saw the patient swinging a knife around. I knew it was serious because there were three other patients in the room. When I tried to talk to him, he was in delirium. He kept saying people had tried to break into his house.”
Kraeling asked his partner Jacob Smith to bring over a fire extinguisher.
“I didn’t know what was about to happen. If he was going to keep swinging the knife or advancing, I would definitely be using the extinguisher.”
Kraeling kept up a running dialogue with the older man, telling him repeatedly to drop the knife. He started slowly backing out of the room to get the man away from the other patients.
“He started following me. He was still swinging the knife. I was ready to deploy the fire extinguisher, but I was worried some of the other patients had breathing issues. I was also thinking about the mess. I didn’t have time to panic or feel afraid. I had too much going through my head,” Kraeling said.
As soon as the patient walked out of the room, the man looked down the hall and saw all the staff gathered.
“He paused for a brief moment. That’s when I saw my opportunity. I dropped the extinguisher and grabbed his knife hand. A struggle did ensue, but he eventually dropped the knife and he was taken to the ground and handcuffed. My partner kicked the knife further down the hall,” Kraeling said.
For his act of bravery that night, Kraeling received the provincial Award of Valour in November 2017. Last week, Kraeling was honoured in Chicago, receiving the Award of Valour from the International Association of Healthcare Security and Safety. This is the first time an Island Health employee has received an international award for valour.
Only when everyone was safe and no one had been injured did reality sink in, Kraeling recalled.
“I was fine at the time, but once the call was concluded, I needed a few moments. My hands started shaking. I panicked. I was definitely overwhelmed,” said Kraeling.
He asked his partner to write people’s names down for the report.
“This is such a big deal for Island Health,” said Mark King, Island Health protection services manager.
“This is the first time we have ever received an award of this nature. We were the only health care organization in Canada to receive an award in health-care security. It’s a big deal.”
Kraeling, who has been at the hospital for 10 years, said he faces aggressive people all the time. People with mental-health issues, dementia or suffering from post-op delirium often become violent.
“They’re not in the normal headspace and definitely, this person wasn’t in his right frame of mind,” Kraeling said.
Island Health security officers are not armed.
“We’re far too close to the patients, for them to grab stuff from our belts,” King said.
“We come to our jobs with compassion and empathy. The patients are sick and receiving treatments. We don’t go in as bouncers or hired hands. We are health-care workers who do security work to keep everyone safe in our facilities, patients, families, visitors and staff.
Kraeling said he loves his job and knows he’ll be doing it for another 20 years.
“It’s just one of those jobs — no day is ever the same. I feel I’m accomplishing here and I work with great staff and I learn on a daily basis. But once you feel you know the job, there’s always something new around the corner,” he said.
Kraeling, 40, is married to Michelle and is father to Hannah, 13, and Jonah, 10.
Island Health has 90 full-time protection services officers dealing with violent individuals, damage to property, fire prevention, first aid, and patient and staff escorting.
