PERTHNOW.COM.AU SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18 2016 A TELETHON … · 2017-09-12 · PERTHNOW.COM.AU SUNDAY...
Transcript of PERTHNOW.COM.AU SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18 2016 A TELETHON … · 2017-09-12 · PERTHNOW.COM.AU SUNDAY...
PERTHNOW.COM.AU SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18 2016 NEWS 29
70-odd Beanie Boo soft toys.Hailey said she was excited tobe this year’s Little TelethonStar. “I’ve been in the paperbefore, but never on TV,” shesaid.
Hailey’s older sister, So-
FOR the first year of her lifeHailey Ardagh could not hear,but she has been making upfor lost time every since.
The seven-year-old is nowrarely without a ukulele inhand and has built confidenceby public speaking.
Hailey’s next challenge willbe impressing WA audiencesafter today’s announcementshe will be one of this year’sLittle Telethon Stars.
She was born with pro-found bilateral hearing lossand joined the TelethonSpeech and HearingEarly InterventionProgram.
Around her firstbirthday she re-ceived bilateral coch-lear implants – and thegift of hearing.
“When they‘switched on’ her hearing,Hailey responded straightaway,” her mother, Jo Ardagh,said.
“It wasn’t an over-the-topreaction. It was almost as if shewent, ‘Oh, great, I can hearthat now’. She wasn’t startledat all.”
Now a thriving Year 3 stu-dent, Hailey admits she stillenjoys a bit of quiet during herfavourite school activity, silentreading.
When she is not at school,she enjoys working on her claysculptures, doing gymnasticsand adding to her collection of
JOEL KELLY
LET’S HEAR IT FOR ATELETHON STAR
Bright spark: Little Telethon Star Hailey Ardagh, 7, is excited to be playing a big part in this year’s charity event. Picture: Ross Swanborough
ONE in five electrical safetyswitches in public housing aredefective – yet a program tocheck and fix them is not due tobe completed before 2020.
A WA Housing Authorityinspection of “residual-currentdevices” or RCDs, which in-stantly break an electric circuitto prevent serious harm fromelectric shock, at 305 propertiesfound that 66 electrical safetyswitches were defective.
The authority also con-firmed that just 305 out of42,000 government-ownedproperties had been inspectedas part of the $26 million Elec-trical Safety Device Program,which is not due to be finaliseduntil December 2020.
In addition to the program,routine inspection of govern-ment properties also occurred –involving a “simple check to en-sure the (electrical safety) devi-ces are working as expected”. Inthe past two years, these routinechecks resulted in 207 new safe-
Safety switch shock
ty switches installed and almost3000 safety switches being re-placed.
The Opposition wants themore thorough checks under-taken as part of the ElectricalSafety Device Program to bedone sooner than the 2020deadline.
Labor housing spokesmanFran Logan said the Govern-ment was inspecting propertiesso slowly that at the current rateit would take “more than 50years to complete the safetychecks”. “It’s disgraceful thatthousands of people are nodoubt living in potential deathtraps,” he said.
Housing Minister BrendonGrylls said it was the start of afour-year process.
“This first segment was al-ways intended to be a pilot pro-gram with just two regionstargeted,” he said.
“The inspections to datehave provided valuable insightsthat will ensure the successfulrollout of the full inspectionprogram to commence later thisyear.”
JOE SPAGNOLO
public speaking or speak aswell as she does,” Ms Ardaghsaid. “When your child is diag-nosed with a disability like thisyou sort of think the worst, butto see her excel at all thesethings makes me very proud.”
Cody Colmer, 6, who wasborn with a spinal conditionthat requires him to wear atorso brace, is also a Little Tel-ethon Star for 2016. Telethonis on October 15-16.
phie, also has profound hear-ing loss and cochlear implants.
Hailey said her family, es-pecially her big sister, were themost important people in herlife, “because I love them somuch and they always lookafter me”.
Hailey’s mum said the littlebattler had come a long way inovercoming her disability.
“I would not have expectedshe would have been able to do
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