Neil Enns and his friend were putting the combine away for the winter when he learned farm safety – the hard way.
He had the engine running and was cleaning the screen on the auger. His friend, who he has worked with for 18 years, engaged the auger.
Enns lost his right hand.
He doesn’t blame his friend. Enns said he should have perceived the danger in the situation.
Today, he uses a prothesis and still farms. And he’s committed to telling his story to help other people.
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Enns is working hard to revive a group called Farmers with Disabilities in Manitoba. It started in 1988 but ran out of funding and steam.
So Enns started a local chapter around Carman, and quickly got 33 members together.
At one of the first meetings, he found out how to button his shirtsleeve using a paper clip.
“We encourage each other and we learn things,” Enns told the National Institute for Farm Safety conference.
Members have spoken to school kids and groups about the importance of safety, and about the swiftness and permanence of injuries.
“I feel that our message is greater than the message from someone without a disability,” Enns said.
“We want to try to prevent these kids from getting into these situations.”
He has also visited recently injured farmers who are having trouble coping: “They like to talk with someone who’s gone through it and knows what it’s like.”
Over the next year, Enns hopes to get small groups set up in five or six areas of the province to do similar activities. Each group would have one member on a provincial board. He’d like to see the group set up a library of modifications for equipment for farmers with disabilities.
A national group called Canadian Farmers with Disabilities is also hoping to become more organized and active.
Carl Palmer, a Nova Scotia farmer who leads the group, said he’s been in touch with the Farm Credit Corp.
The lending agency is interested in offering attractive loans to farmers with disabilities who need help modifying equipment or hiring help after an accident.
Palmer also hopes more farmers sign up for a confidential registry kept by the Centre for Agricultural Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.
