“Spanner in the Works?” – a Men’s Health initiative by the Australian Men’s Shed Association.

Dear Community Men’s Shedders

Many Aussie men are not very good at looking after ourselves physically or emotionally. Physically, if we have an ache or pain, our attitude is often that of “I’ll battle through this” or “I’ll wait a while and see if this gets better by itself”. For most of us we get away with this most of the time. Only when the aches or pains or emotions are overpowering us do we make the decision to do something about it and get it checked out by a doctor or other Health Professional.

Health is complex - we can tend to become overwhelmed with information about our health. “Spanner in the Works” is an attempt to provide some key health messages to us men in a form that is understandable and achievable. “Spanner in the Works?” is not about telling men what to do but sets out some things that men can do (or not do) to improve their health and their chances of a longer and healthier life. It gives men the opportunity to make adjustments as they see fit. Often minor adjustments can have a major impact on health, relationships with loved ones and friends and work.

What is “Spanner in the Works?”

“Spanner in the Works?” is a men friendly health screening and information program. The program is available to all Men’s Sheds around Australia and has the following main aims:

  • Provide some basic health screening and advice to men:
  • utilising the staff resources of your local Health Service.
  • within the “men friendly” environment of a Men’s Shed
  • referral on of men to health professionals (as appropriate)
  • Provide “men friendly” health information and health awareness through the “Spanner in the Works?” booklet.
  • Have local men and shedders engage with their local health service providers
  • Have local men (non ‘shedders’) engage with their local Men’s Shed
  • Have local health service providers and local Men’s Shed engage with each other
  • The program will be available all year

What happens now?

  • Read ALL of this information and take the idea to the shedders at your shed to decide whether your Men’s Sheds wants to run a “Spanner in the Works?” program this year.
  • If you decide ‘yes’ then contact your local Health Service(s) ASAP to seek the help of their staff to do the screening on the men that turn up on the day of the event. Take this information with you and, if the Health Service(s) have any questions you are unable to answer please get them to contact me
  • Some Men’s Sheds who have had difficulty in the past getting Health Workers involved have contacted a university and obtained the services of student Nurses, student Doctors and/or Allied Health students. These students have been able to further their experience by screening participants under suitable supervision
  • Decide, with your local Health Service, on a suitable date and time to run the program. Remember :
  • The program is available all year
  • The program is designed to be available to all men in your community (not just your current shedders)
  • You may want to hold it on a day when the shed is normally open so that newcomers can see what happens at your Men’s Shed – you might get some new recruits that way
  • You may want to hold the event as part of a larger community event in your area or a Men’s Shed Open Day
  • Register your program with AMSA ASAP (by emailing me the completed Rego Form attached) at least 3 weeks prior to the event. This enables me to snail mail you the posters, brochures and booklets needed in plenty of time. The Health Service staff will need to see and digest the booklets before the event
  • You may want to value add to the program by having a guest speaker (Pharmacist, Dietician, Exercise Physiologist, GP etc) or providing a healthy lunch etc
  • There may be some minor costs involved for such things as advertising, food etc. A local business may help with this if asked. Food is always a drawcard!
  • You may wish to hold a combined event in conjunction with other sheds in your area and thus reduce the workload involved
  • Promote the event within your local community
  • Run the event with the support of your local health service
  • After the event - return feedback forms to AMSA

NB – the Rego Form and Feedback Forms should be emailed to me as Microsoft “Word” documents attached to the email. No PDF or JPEG files please!

Gary Green

Community Engagement Coordinator

1300 550 009 or