Inside the Glastonbury/West Edmonton Men’s Shed on Monday nights once a month, there’s a hum of saws, sanders and conversation.
“The Men’s Shed program is a drop-in program where men from the community just come together to work on projects together and at the same time support one another,” liaison Brian Geislinger said.
“(We) meet on an informal basis and we really work together on a lot of different community projects.”
Originally founded in Australia in the 1990s, the grassroots Men’s Sheds program was brought to Canada in the early 2000s. Since then, it’s grown to more than 140 Sheds operating across 10 provinces.
The groups focus on men’s health and addressing social isolation.
Men’s Sheds address the reality that men tend to only make connections at work. If they are retired, not working, working from home, on disability or just plain busy — they have limited ability to form social connections.
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A group from the Men’s Shed Program work at the Saints Church Glastonbury workshop.
Courtesy: Glastonbury/West Edmonton Men's Shed
“The Men’s Shed program really addresses a need in our society to support men’s mental health,” Geislinger said.
“It’s not a mental health program, but we always say your mental health will benefit by participating in the Men’s Shed.”
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The group in west Edmonton operates with no overhead costs. Saints Church Glastonbury provides the workshop space and the local Glastonbury Community League has stepped up to help offset some of the costs of supplies.
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Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.“We’ve had tools donated, we’ve had small budgets to buy some of the tools and the church also has its own workshop, which makes tools available to us so it’s worked out really well,” Geislinger said.
The group includes men from all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
Story continues below advertisementSo far, they’ve built everything from little libraries for the community to raised garden beds and benches for the local outdoor rink.
Their biggest project so far, however, has been offering up birdhouse and tool box kits to the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital for its recreation therapy program.
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Raised garden beds made by the Glastonbury/West Edmonton Men’s Shed Program.
Courtesy: Glastonbury/West Edmonton Men's Shed Program
Renae Krushinsky, a recreation therapy assistant at the Glenrose, reached out to the Glastonbury/ West Edmonton’s Men’s Shed about the possibility of creating the kits to help patients with not only their physical rehabilitation, but also their mental recovery.
“I like helping people be active: painting, building birdhouses, working with clay, getting their hands going,” Krushinsky said. “The mental stimulation is really good for patients. They start to talk and share their stories and the different experiences they’ve had.
Story continues below advertisement“The greatest part is that when they get out into the community, they’re actually continuing with some of the things they’ve done in the art room here. They’re creating portfolios with paintings and stuff like that. It’s very inspiring.”
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“We’d basically seen a need that we needed to supply something for our patients that we could (foster) a hands-on experience,” she said. “Looking at those cognitive skills and fine motor skills, social skills, and we just wanted to provide that for our patients.”
The two organizations were able to secure a small project grant from HelpAge Canada to cover the cost of wood and supplies, and Glenrose Hospital Foundation also provided some funding for the project.
Over the last three years, Men’s Shed program participants have prepared more than 160 bird house kits for the Glenrose, with assembly and finishing done by patients, including Aidan Asher.
The 18-year-old from Fort McMurray was training to be a heavy-duty mechanic, and had already dedicated two years of his high school apprenticeship to reaching that goal.
In September, he was out on his new dirt bike when he was hit by a car.
“Someone turned in front of him and cut him off,” said Aidan’s dad, Damian Asher. “He was tossed 60 feet. He had six cerebral bleeds. Three weeks in the ICU, intubated twice, a trach, infections, pneumonia.
Story continues below advertisement“Right now he has no short-term memory. He doesn’t know where he is, he doesn’t know what cities he’s in, doesn’t know where his bed is, and doesn’t know what happened.”
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Aidan’s dad said his short-term memory resets every 20 seconds or so. Working on the toolbox week after week is helping to build that memory and rebuild neural pathways in his brain.
“He’s been able to build it and watch it as he goes. It imprints a little bit as long-term memory,” Damian Asher said. “Some days he remembers that that is his toolbox, that it’s red. But part of the treatment simply is, well, come in and find the project that’s yours.”
Krushinsky said it helps start to build back long-term memory.
“That continual weekly progress that you go through, like coming to the art room and doing those same steps, it just builds that memory and supports him and the other cares that he’s doing within the hospital as well.”
With more kits already in production and more patients benefiting each week, both organizations expect the collaboration to continue growing and proving the simple tools and shared time can make a profound difference.
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