It was patient safety first as staff at the La Loche Health Centre dealt with a potentially dangerous situation early Sunday morning.
Intruders broke into the facility allegedly looking to do harm to a patient who had just arrived by ambulance.
The facility is quite small, with about a dozen beds for patients.
Early Sunday morning a patient arrived by ambulance requiring urgent care.
While staff was attending to the patient, the emergency department door was broken and individuals got into the facility.
They were apparently running, yelling and looking for the patient in an alleged attempt to continue a fight that started earlier off site.
Keewatin Regional Health Authority communications director Dale West commends staff for the way they handled the situation.
“They are professionals,” he says. “They treat their patients well and they always put those patients first and of course it had to be an unsettling incident for them.”
West says RCMP were called and arrived on scene quickly to arrest the suspects.
It is not clear what charges they will face.
He adds after hours the emergency door is locked and people have to be buzzed in.
West says in the aftermath of what happened Sunday, security measures are being reviewed.
“Safety of our patients and staff, that is of prime importance to us. We will be investigating this week to see if there is any more we can do of a physical nature to prevent this sort of thing from ever happening again.”
RCMP have charged three La Loche men in relation to the incident.
Breton Fontaine and Edward Lemaigre, both 21, have been arrested.
A warrant is also out for a third suspect, 25-year-old Earl Lemaigre.
The two suspects in custody face charges of assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence and mischief under $5,000.