By Jackey Locke

Engineering students Amir Elzaher and Jaffer Alkarim Jaffer were completing their first and third work terms, respectively, when the opportunity to work on several community projects with the Tetra Society came along.

“I was delighted to be selected to assist with a Tetra project as it sparked my interest in design aimed at positive change towards individuals in need,” said Mr. Elzaher.

The Tetra Society is a national organization that produces assistive devices for people with disabilities to achieve independent and fulfilling lives. Dr. Leonard Lye founded the NL Chapter of the Tetra Society in 1996.

“We have completed more than 100 projects to date,” said Dr. Lye. In recent years, when there are several requests for devices I hire engineering students to work on them as part of their work term,” said Dr. Lye. “I always hire two students so that the students can work as a team.”

On this particular work term the students worked on four projects, including a piano cart for Deborah Hawksley, the music therapist at St. Patrick’s Mercy Home.

Ms. Hawksley does group and individual music sessions with residents. For individual sessions, she often visits residents in their rooms, which means she has to transport a piano, among other smaller instruments, to all parts of the home and travel on an elevator.

“Years ago, they built a box that could transport the piano, but it was heavy and very awkward to move without a handle to push,” said Dr. Lye. “Ms. Hawksley also brings her guitar, her drum and her seat so everything has to be put on this cart and pushed all over the building.”

The task of designing a new piano cart for the music therapist with St. Patrick’s Mercy Home was an impactful one for the students.

“My perspective on accessible design has been drastically changed,” said Mr. Amir. “I learned that one of the key factors to a successful accessible design is the ability to see the problem from the perspective of the person with the disability. Despite having a strong passion for three-dimensional computer assisted design (3D CAD) as a hobby prior to my work term, I never had an opportunity to see a design process through to completion before getting involved with Tetra. I am humbled that I was able to take part in making the music therapist’s job at St. Patrick’s less taxing on her health so that she can continue to maintain and improve the quality of the residents’ stay at the home through music therapy.”

Ms. Hawksley is very grateful to Dr. Lye, the students and the Tetra Society for her new piano cart. It has meant a world of difference for the delivery of her music therapy program to the residents of St. Patrick’s Mercy Home, especially for some individual residents.

“When I’m doing individual sessions, residents who can play the piano will sit at the piano in their wheel chairs and play with me,” she said. “The new cart can fit their wheel chairs better and they’re able to get closer to the piano.”

As for the students, this was a work term they won’t forget anytime soon.

“Few words can describe the feeling of joy and accomplishment associated with seeing a simple design go from a concept to a tangible solution tailored to meet the unique needs of a client,” said Mr. Amir. “Just like every other project that has been delivered by Dr. Lye and Tetra for over the past 20 years, our solution for the music therapist has only been made possible as a result of the hard work, commitment, and collaboration of all parties involved; this includes myself, Jaffer, the society student volunteers, Dr. Lye and Dr. De Silva, Technical Services, and the clients. The solution we delivered drew a smile not only on the therapist’s face, but also the staff and residents of St. Patrick Mercy Home.”

For Mr. Jaffer, the experience was equally rewarding. “I'm thankful to Dr. Lye and another professor, Dr. De Silva, for the opportunity to be part of Tetra Society,” he said. “The projects that we worked on, including Ms. Hawksley's piano cart, were very successful due to the amazing ideas and contributions from the entire team as well as the people in Memorial’s Technical Services Division’s welding shop for bringing our designs to life. The work term was a welcome challenge in terms of design and creativity and was very rewarding in terms of the positive impact it had to the individuals/community that we were helping.”