Travails of Nigerian health care workers in Canada attacked by patients
At work, they are kicked, punched and subjected to verbal and sexual assault by their patients as healthcare workers, yet Nigerian migrants who work as healthcare workers say leaving the
- Victims sustain fractured legs, broken backs, others from deadly kicks
At work, they are kicked, punched and subjected to verbal and sexual assault by their patients as healthcare workers, yet Nigerian migrants who work as healthcare workers say leaving the job is not an option, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.
Pretty Olajumoke Popoola sullied on a video call. She looked sickly and weary. She tried to comport herself while speaking with the reporter but her inner anguish soon manifested in a rivulet of tears, underscoring her travails since she migrated from Lagos to Ontario, Canada.
In the last few months of her engagement as a healthcare worker, she has been kicked, punched and brutalised by her emotionally-charged patients. One night, she was almost strangulated by a six footer man at a home she was seconded to for a night shift.
“If not that the people around heard my distressed voice, the man, towering above six feet, would have snuffed life out of me. The man held me to a wall and seized my neck with his bare hand.
“I struggled to free myself from his grip and the noise from the scene attracted some persons who rushed in to save me. It took about five persons to tame the man, but I was lucky to be freed from him.’’
While Olajumoke was happy to be freed, her employers could not do something about her plight as she nursed the pains from the attack.
“My body has been aching for days after the incident.
“In the last few months of joining the firm that posted me to the home, I have been assaulted, kicked, punched and nearly molested by some of the persons we are caring for. Yet, my employers consider the attacks as part of job hazards.
“I left the job I was doing at a haulage company for to work as a healthcare giver to enhance my eligibility for a residential permit. However, the experience has been harrowing so far.
“The last time I was kicked by one of the care receivers I was assigned to handle, the kick I received from the man partially affected my spine and it took some days before the pains on my backbone subsided.”
Like Olajumoke, Ms Nancy Obok, who relocated from Nigeria to Ontario, Canada two years ago, has a bitter experience working as a healthcare giver. The 38-year-old single mother, who worked as a cashier in one of the new generation banks in Lagos until her relocation for the proverbial green pasture abroad, has been laid back with strained led injury from kicks by a man she was assigned to take care of in the last days of December 2025.
She said: “Initially, I worked as an operative at a waste disposal company, but the pay was not enough to sustain my bills. So, I thought that I could get more from being a care giver hence I enrolled for some courses in healthcare management at a college in Ontario.
“But reality dawned on me a few days into the job when a man I was giving care at a morning shift slapped me several times, kicked me in the belly and I landed on the floor.
“The latest assault happened in December and I landed on the floor after a man I was taking care of kicked me in the stomach and legs and gave me slaps. My legs were fractured hence I have been home, earning half salary without any insurance bond because I am an immigrant.”
An unnamed migrant healthcare worker, in a recent video posted online, also shared her pathetic story, lamenting her failing health arising from violence at work, saying: “Being a healthcare worker in Canada, I had never thought that could slow me down until the day I broke my back. I can’t stand properly, I can’t walk properly.
“Once upon a time, I was caring for people, lifting, caring and running. I did all that, but now I am stuck at home with half pay.
“I am calling on all mothers, healthcare workers and immigrants; whatever you are doing here, please find a side hustle.
“Find something to do that can generate income, because when you’re like me like this, honestly, you are going to get hit, and you will never know when you will get hit.
“I am getting half pay and my bills are not being slashed off; it comes in full.
“I have been thinking a lot while I am recovering. Would I be able to find something to generate additional income that even if I did not go back to my healthcare work, if I had something doing, these moments will not be painful?
“I have been thinking a lot while I am recovering.”
Life has become nightmarish for Abike Lawson who struggled to raise money through family and friends for her relocation to Ottawa, Canada, in 2024.The scars from blows and kicks dealt on her by several men and women in care homes she has worked have left her body disfigured like a wall painted with graffiti.
“There are marks all over my body from the hits received from care receivers at work. Most times, I got wounded by the people I cared for, who are emotionally charged while a few of them just displayed racial rage at black persons like me,’’ she said
No respite in sight
In spite of the toxic and hazardous nature of the job, victims explained that they cannot quit working as healthcare workers, citing the need to sustain their stay in Canada.
Lawson said: “Right now, I cannot think of any endeavour that can pay my bills. Hence, I have to continue to endure the assaults and accompanying pain until I can find a suitable alternative job.
“I cannot return to Nigeria, because I haven’t repaid the loans I took from family members and friends to process my relocation to Canada. And that is the reason I cannot stop working as a healthcare worker on part-time basis until I am able to repay the money and find a full time job that could give me a pay rise and take care of all my bills.’’
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“It took me several months of living on foods collected from government charity centres to survive, because a few amount in Canadian dollars with me had finished in the first two weeks of my arrival.
“Hence, I cannot leave or quit the job for now until a good job comes my way.
“To quit would mean that I am prepared to be out in the cold, because I won’t be able to meet up with paying for my rents and other sundry bills to keep myself in this country.”
Obok, in her remarks, said she would continue to endure the assaults, hoping that when her migrant status is perfected, she would switch job to other sectors in Canada.
''Although I have plans to relocate to other places in Canada in future, for now, I don't have any alternative apart from this job that sustains me in this country.
“I will continue to hang on the job till I can perfect my residential permit and other migrant documentation that could enhance my relocation to other parts of the country where there are better job opportunities.'’
No one should feel unsafe at work —Expert
Despite the violence meted out to healthcare givers and paramedics, leaving the patients or the job is not an option.
A senior paramedic, Michael Heenan, warned that no health care worker should feel unsafe at work because of the backlash on staff turnover
He said: “Anger, lack of civility, violence and abuse have become part of a larger societal problem. You can see it underscored by signs and warnings in retail stores, customer service departments and public offices, asking people to be nice to the staff who work there.
“Every day, nurses, physicians, personal support workers and students document a spectrum of abusive behaviour they experience in providing care.
“They are kicked, punched and subjected to sexual harassment.
“This violence is not only physical; it also takes the form of verbal aggression and abuse, as well as racism toward the black and indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC).
“It also is not only violence resulting from mental illness. Incidents occur in all types of care areas and are on the rise.
“The challenge we face on the front lines of health care is that even in the face of abuse, we must contend with the moral and ethical framework that puts care of the patient first.
“We simply can’t refuse service to an abusive client like a private business.’’
He added: “Despite the challenges, we must remember that the vast majority of patients and families treat our staff with dignity and respect.
“I hear many stories from patients who are incredibly grateful to the health care workers who have been part of their circle of care.
“Still, it is impacting morale, staff turnover and clinical outcomes.
“More needs to be done; it is simply not right that every year, hundreds of staff members experience violence, aggression, assault and abuse on the job.
“No one should feel unsafe in their place of work, and it’s time to do more to protect our health-care workers.’’
