Helen Boocock, Executive Director, STARS

Weekend sessions at STARS

I would like to thank all the staff who have come together to make our fortnightly Saturday sessions for ophthalmology, gynaecology and endoscopy a reality. As you can appreciate organising these extra sessions has been a big task and was only made possible by the amazing team spirit shown here at STARS. The dedication of staff in supporting these sessions means there will be many patients who receive their treatment in a timely fashion. Well done to all.

World Engineering Day competition

To celebrate World Engineering Day tomorrow, the Rehabilitation Engineering Centre ran a challenge to build the tallest free-standing tower capable of holding a tennis ball for 10 seconds. The supplies were simply 10 sheets of A4 paper and sticky tape. We had some wonderful entries from across the hospital, some more structurally sound than others, some challenging the definition of free-standing, but all in good fun.

This year’s winner was Nathan Alexander, Admin Officer for the Rehabilitation Engineering Centre. Nathan managed to support the tennis ball 2.95m above the ground for 10 seconds. In second place was the Procedural Services AO Team with a very respectable 2.08m and in third place we had The Pod on level 7 with 1.87m.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s challenge and to Oli from the Rehabilitation Centre for organising the challenge.

(Below L-R) Winner of this year’s World Engineering Day Challenge, Nathan Alexander with his entry, and receiving his chocolate prize from Rehabilitation Engineer, Oli Mason.

Queensland Adult Specialist Immunisation Service (QASIS)

Many of you would have heard of Metro North’s Queensland Adult Specialist Immunisation Service (QASIS) during COVID-19, where the specialist team assisted hundreds of Queenslanders with complex medical conditions to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations. Recently, the service has expanded their scope to provide vaccination advice on a broad range of vaccinations. The service is available to people across Queensland aged 16 and over who have previously had an adverse event following immunisation or are at risk of a significant adverse event, have an underlying complex medical condition and are unable to be vaccinated in a primary healthcare setting, and require post immunisation supervision in a hospital setting. If you have a patient who could benefit from the service, I encourage you to get in touch with the team. You can find out more on the QASIS website.

New appointment

I would like to welcome Dr. Vikram Joshi as the new Clinical Director Rehabilitation Services at STARS.  Vikram completed his basic physician training at Royal Prince Alfred, before going on to complete advanced training in Rehabilitation Medicine through various metropolitan hospitals in Sydney. Vikram developed his subspecialty interests in Brain and Spinal Injury Medicine after spending a year at Royal Rehabilitation (Sydney). Vikram is excited about the opportunity to work with our multidisciplinary geri/rehab team here at STARS and is looking forward to making a positive contribution to the development of the service.

Helen.