Episode Seven - Community Connections

Welcome to Sherbrooke is a podcast that takes you inside Sherbrooke Community Centre; a long term care home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where 263 residents live and which follows the Eden Alternative Philosophy of Care. In this episode, we learn the importance of Sherbrooke residents connecting with people and organizations in the greater community, and we take you to Saskatoon’s Remai Modern Art Gallery to show how these connections make a difference in the lives of residents. One of the seven domains of well-being in the Eden Alternative Philosophy of Care is connectedness, which takes many forms in Sherbrooke. It can be the connection between a resident and their care staff. It can be the bond a resident feels with a cat who calls Sherbrooke home. For this episode, we are going to explore the connection that residents and staff can form within the greater community. There are many examples of community connections Sherbrooke has formed over the years, but we will focus on a recent example involving a local artist named Gabby DaSilva. Last year, Gabby worked on the second edition of her zine, ‘invisibly ill’ with Sherbrooke residents and Grade 6 iGen students. The zine, which resembles a magazine, explored themes of disabilities and invisible illnesses through stories and artwork from residents and students iGen students. Gabby’s work brought visibility to artists living with visible and invisible disabilities and we were proud to be included in this zine. We were also proud to partner on this project with Saskatoon’s AKA Artist-Run Centre and the Remai Modern, which hosted a launch party for Gabby’s zine. You are about to meet some very excited Sherbrooke residents, along with iGen students, Sherbrooke staff and Gabby DaSilva, on what this collaboration meant to them. Thank you for listening to the Welcome to Sherbrooke podcast. Please leave a 5-star review if you like what you hear and feel free to share the podcast with all of your friends! Episode Credits: Produced, edited, mixed by Eric Anderson Executive Producer is Kim Schmidt Music licensed through APM Music Gathered on location at Sherbrooke Community Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada