Tag: St Elizabeth’s School

Speed Awareness Monitor Installed Near St Elizabeth’s School in Tarragindi

Just in time for the start of another school year, a Speed Awareness Monitor (SAM) was installed near St Elizabeth’s School in Tarragindi. It’s one of 22 ‘Slow for SAM’ sites added across Brisbane to ensure the safety of children.

Read: Did You Know That This Ex-Tarragindi Tiger Turned Down Liberia’s Offer to Play for the Socceroos?

Brisbane City Council announced that the initial installation for the 2023 school year is up at these locations but more sites will be determined as the program rolls out:

  • Acacia Ridge State School 
  • Holland Park State School 
  • Anglican Church Grammar School, East Brisbane 
  • Villanova College, Coorparoo 
  • Petrie Terrace State School, Paddington 
  • Upper Brookfield State School 
  • Mount Gravatt State High School 
  • Seville Road State School, Holland Park 
  • Sunnybank State School 
  • St Dympna’s Parish School, Aspley 
  • St Williams Primary School, Everton Park 
  • Yeronga State School 
  • St Elizabeth’s School, Tarragindi 
  • Eagle Junction State School 
  • Windsor State School 

Speed Awareness Monitors, also known as SAM, was launched in 2013 to advise motorists to slow down, especially in school zones where pedestrian activity is high.

Since the launch, more than 200 SLOW for SAM monitors are actively in place in Brisbane. Motorists have also made it a habit to reduce an average of eight kilometres across all locations. 

Photo Credit: BCC

The monitors do not issue notices but work to detect a speeding car and then display ether three messages:

  • a smiley face for vehicles going within the speed limit
  • the car’s speed with a “slow down” message for vehicles going beyond 9 kilometres per hour of the speed limit
  • a big “slow down” message for vehicles driving above 10 kilometres of the speed limit

The Transport Planning and Operations of Brisbane City Council determines where SLOW for SAM signs should be installed. However, locals may contact their ward office or phone Council via 07 3403 8888 if they think a location qualifies for a SLOW for SAM sign.

Read: Survey Says Locals Have Problems with Pathways Around Popular Tarragindi Primary School

Tarragindi Girl’s Ear Surgery ‘Will Change Her Life Forever’

Four-year-old Harriet with her loving parents Anna and Jay Sanders (Photo credit: hearandsay.com.au)

Harriet Sanders, a prep student at St Elizabeth’s School, Tarragindi, recently underwent  ear reconstruction surgery – a procedure that will change her life forever.

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Harriet, 4, was born without fully formed ears because of bilateral microtia and atresia. According to the Ear Community, microtia is a congenital deformity wherein the ear does not fully develop during the first trimester of pregnancy whilst atresia refers to the absence or closure of the external auditory ear canal.

Harriet’s mother, Anna Sanders said that, through the years, they helped treat the little girl’s hearing loss through bone-conducted hearing aids. Anna described her daughter as a very bright, sassy, and funny little girl.  

But through a fundraising campaign led by local charity group ‘Hear and Say’, Harriet has been fitted with bilateral Cochlear BAHA 5 bone conduction hearing aids, a non-surgical hearing solution designed for children. It’s a headband-mounted hearing aid which conducts sound through the bone in Harriet’s forehead.

Harriet and her teacher Ms Brigitte Egan (Photo credit: catholicleader.com.au) 

Reconstructive Surgery

The reconstructive surgery involves two separate 10-12 hour surgeries by a specialist reconstructive surgeon using state of the art 3D printed ear technology. 

Dr Joe Dusseldorp, a reconstructive plastic surgeon based in Sydney, used modern technology to create a 3D print a scaffold of an ear using before connecting it to Harriet’s head.

The scaffold is created with tiny holes that will help Harriet’s tissue to grow into it; then from above her ear and inner thigh, it will be covered with skin grafts so it will look like a normal ear. The second part of Harriet’s surgery, which will be for her other ear, is scheduled in 2022.

Before this surgery was introduced in Australia, children with microtia and atresia, even had to go to the United States for the reconstruction surgery where it’s more expensive to have it done.

“We strongly believe that this will be life changing surgery for Harriet. It will mean that she can go through life with no physical deformity, giving her the confidence and strength she will need to succeed in all aspects of life,” Anna shared.