{"id":5003,"date":"2025-11-26T13:15:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T03:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/uncategorized\/stars-engineering-brings-wedding-bliss-to-roy"},"modified":"2025-11-26T13:15:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T03:15:03","slug":"stars-engineering-brings-wedding-bliss-to-roy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/news\/stars-engineering-brings-wedding-bliss-to-roy","title":{"rendered":"STARS Rehabilitation Engineering brings wedding bliss to patient Roy"},"content":{"rendered":"

STARS Rehabilitation Engineering brings wedding bliss to patient Roy<\/h1>\n
\"Roy

Roy taking on ‘flower girl’ duties at his grand daughter’s wedding thanks to his customised wheelchair seating.<\/p><\/div>\n

When 98-year-old great-grandfather Roy was invited to his beloved granddaughter\u2019s wedding, at first he didn\u2019t think he would be able to attend. Roy\u2019s wheelchair set-up required two people to help him stand and it was so unconformable he could only sit it in for less than an hour. Being able to get through the wedding ceremony and reception seemed like an impossibility.<\/h4>\n

In stepped in the Rehabilitation Engineering Centre (REC) at STARS. The only professional engineer-led service of its kind in Queensland and one of only a few in Australia, the REC specialise in building or modifying assistive technology and mobility equipment to suit patient\u2019s personal needs.<\/p>\n

REC Director Oliver Mason was confident a solution could be found for Roy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see a lot of patients at REC who need customised wheelchair seating, from young children to the elderly,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Roy\u2019s case we collaborated with STARS physiotherapist Angela Williamson to design a cushion taller than the standard height to enhance his sit-to-stand ability, while carefully selecting foams that balanced support and comfort so he could remain seated comfortably throughout the wedding.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this was completed remotely utilising measurements provided by Roy\u2019s granddaughter, the bride to be, negating the need for Roy to travel to our clinic.\u201d
With the new custom wheelchair seating in place Roy was not only able to attend the wedding, but also play a significant role in the ceremony, taking on flower girl duties.<\/p>\n

Roy could sit in his chair for longer periods and be included in all parts of the wedding, enjoying the garden, the cocktail hour and the whole dinner reception, including the speeches. He could also stand easily to his walker and walk short distances.<\/p>\n

Roy declared it \u201cthe best wedding he had ever been to\u201d. Roy lives with his granddaughter and her now husband, so it meant the world to her and her family to have him present at her wedding.<\/p>\n

The custom wheelchair seating has also made a big difference to Roy\u2019s daily appointments. Independently standing from a seated position has meant less need for manual handling from family members and he no longer experiences the same level of stiffness when he gets out of the chair.<\/p>\n

For Oliver, seeing the photo of Roy at the wedding is a wonderful reminder of the importance of the work they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cImproving a patient\u2019s mobility equipment can have such an impact on a patient\u2019s quality of life- whether it be allowing them to return to work, enjoy a hobby or attend special family events \u2013 it is all about getting people back to doing what they love and find fulfilling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STARS Rehabilitation Engineering Centre and physio Angela Williamson collaborated on custom wheelchair seating for patient Roy, allowing him to attend his granddaughter’s wedding to take on ‘flower girl’ duties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":5004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,54,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-patient-stories","category-stars"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5006,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions\/5006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}