Attack victim speaks after brutal assault

Jackie Healey is seen in hospital after a brutal attack on May 29/Facebook

By Dave Baxter
Originally published in the Selkirk Record

Jackie Healey spent last week recovering from a violent and brutal attack in St. Andrews and now the 23-year-old says her injuries are so severe that life will never be the same. 

On May 29 Healey and one other female worker were beaten by two teens that used baseball bats and pool balls in socks as weapons at the Selkirk Behavioral Health Foundation (BHF) male youth centre located along Breezy Point Road in St. Andrews.

Both Healey and the second victim suffered from what RCMP called “blunt trauma injuries.” 

Healey was released from the hospital on Monday, and shared the extent of her brutal injuries in an interview on Tuesday.

“I have severe consistent pain with my head where I was beat with a baseball bat and pool balls put into a sock,” Healey said.

Jackie Healey is seen before a brutal assault on May 29/Facebook

“The doctors said my skull is cracked in many different places, my eye bone is shattered, which caused bone fragment to press against the optic nerve causing me to go blind in one eye.”

  Healey can recount what happened just before the attack, and the harrowing moments right after, as she fought for survival. 

“I only remember seconds before the attack, and running down the stairs after the attack, from the third floor,” she said. “I pulled the fire alarm, which only rings in the main building.

“I barricaded myself in the main office on the main floor. I slid the dresser across the door, and called the Selkirk RCMP.”

She said she waited in horror for the police to arrive.

“I remember the RCMP members walking in, three of them, I started waving my hands to let the male officer know I was in the office. He came in and held me, I knew I was safe.

“I was full of blood and he hugged me. He walked me to a stretcher where I was taken to the Selkirk General Hospital and transferred to HSC.”

Healey was finishing her last shift at BHF as part of a Red River College work practicum when she and one other women were attacked by two teenage boys ages 16 and 17.

Both teens were arrested in Winnipeg two days after the attack.

“For the three weeks I was there at BHF I got along with the boys very well, especially with the 16 year old, very well,” Healey said. “I looked forward to going in, spending time with the boys. They brought me joy.

“I even went in on my days off. I have no clue why they attacked me, and I am still in shock that they did, because we had such a good bond. I thought we had a good bond.”

Healey has shared horrific stories and also posted disturbing images of her injuries on social media, but she has also talked about how friends, family and even total strangers have stood by her side.

“Since last Sunday, I have had my family, friends, strangers, and many people from the Interlake, people I don't know sending Facebook messages, people all over the province sending their love, support, hoping for a speedy recovery and that they have me in their prayers.”

Jackie Healey says she has had lots of support from friends and family since being assaulted/Facebook

 She said she has spoken personally with both Premier Brian Pallister and MKO Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson.

“I have received cards flowers and messages from people who I don't know, and that is beautiful for people to think of me and wish me a speedy recovery.”

BHF board chair Jody Ostapiw said there will now be both a criminal investigation as well as an internal investigation done by the foundation.

“We’re still putting the pieces together, and it’s too early to comment about specifics,” she said. “We’re doing our own inquiry, and we are cooperating with all the different entities involved when something happens at a rehabilitation centre, and we are cooperating with the criminal investigation.”

The BHF had said earlier this month they would be closing both their 16-bed male youth facility in St. Andrews and their youth female facility in St. Norbert this month if they could not secure a new funding model from the province.

Ostapiw confirmed Monday that both facilities have now been closed indefinitely and she could not say if they will ever be reopened. 

She added the closing of the facilities is due to funding issues and not because of the recent assault on the two women.

The BHF has said that most of their beds in both facilities were only funded when they were full and that funding model was not sustainable.