Our People in NSW
Karl Schilf - Lakehaven Soldier on Sumatra Rescue Mission
Lakehaven’s Karl Schilf is keeping an Army medical unit in touch with Australia and their own Sumatra Headquarters as they provide critical medical aid to the people of Sungai Geringging, a small village badly hit by the devastating earthquake two weeks ago.
Now an Army Signaller, Karl has been on the ground for over a week and has helped establish the primary health care facility that has treated over 400 people so far.
“It’s my job to provide communications support during this deployment on Operation Padang Assist,” Karl said.
“We were deployed with very short notice but that is a part of our job, we are always ready to go and get the job done.”
A wide range of communication equipment has been set up to provide the best support possible to the medical team, including voice over internet protocol (VOIP) and video conferencing links back to Australia.
“We had a few challenges managing the extreme high heat levels that we are working in – some of our equipment was starting to overheat,” Karl said.
“However, we managed to overcome that issue quickly and the systems are working really well.”
These days Karl is normally based in Sydney with 17th Signals Regiment.
Operation Padang Assist is providing primary health care to outlying areas, rapid structural assessments in Padang and fresh drinking water to over 78,000 households in the poorest regions of that city.