Our People in VIC
Katie Bevridge - To The Rescue
Falls Creek’s Corporal Katie Bevridge is one of the Australian soldiers deployed at short notice to West Sumatra as a key element of Operation Padang Assist.
Katie is now advanced medic, normally based in Sydney with 1st Health Support Battalion but now she is providing basic medical aid to the people of Sungai Geringging, and earthquake-ravaged village some 75kms from Padang..
“This is my second deployment with 1HSB, last year I spent over five months in Kuwait,” Katie said. “It’s certainly different to the ski slopes back home.”
The skills Katie brings enable the health facility treat a large number of patients. Her experience in ‘triage’ (treating the worst first) ensures more advanced cases are quickly referred to the unit’s nurses and doctors.
“We are seeing some pretty extreme cases here, everything from cuts and bruises right through to chronic illnesses such as cancer and diabetes,” she said.
“We are doing a whole lot of good here. People are receiving treatments they usually don’t have access to.”
Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen are working day and night to provide health care, purified water, and to deliver aid supplies to the people of Padang and the surrounding areas of West Sumatra in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that rocked the Indonesian province on September 30.