CMDR Terry Slader, a Naval Reserve paediatric nurse from HMAS Kanimbla, checks the breathing of a local boy from Banda Aceh.

Photo: ABPH Jarrad Oliffe

By LEUT Fenn Kemp

CMDR Terry Slader has 10 tiny patients who are battling to stay alive.

Each has contracted a strain of pneumonia which is so virulent, the experts have given it a name - Tsunami Syndrome.

When the wave hit, the children were engulfed, swallowing water and a cocktail of chemicals.

CMDR Slader is a paediatric nurse at Brisbane’s Royal Children’s Hospital and was originally signed up to go to Banda Aceh with Queensland Health, when the Navy called.

He geared himself for the worst, but knew there was a vital job to be done.

“You don’t switch off, you have to continue to function,” he said.

“If you fold there is no one else.

“This job is worse than others because of the absolute devastation and helplessness of the children.”

But if CMDR Slader takes away one lasting impression, it will be the strength of the Banda Aceh community.

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