RAAF nurse saves Filipino boy
An RAAF nurse has saved the life of a young boy in the Philippines.
Flight Lieutenant Ben James, one of nine Australians with the US Pacific Partnership humanitarian mission in the country, jumped into action when the boy's family brought him to their clinic in Tacloban.
"We were finished for the day, after seeing more than 600 patients, when the boy was brought into the clinic by his family members who were very distressed," he said in a defence media statement.
"He was having a very severe seizure and was foaming at the mouth and vomiting. His pulse was very fast but then it faded to very slow, which made us worried he wasn't going to make it."
Flight Lieutenant James and a US Navy medical specialist worked together to resuscitate the lad.
A Philippines army truck then took him to hospital where local doctors connected him to a ventilator.
Eventually he was given the all clear.
US Navy doctor Lieutenant Scott Olsen said the boy would have died without their treatment.
"Flight Lieutenant James should be very proud of himself for his life-saving deed today," he said.
The US-sponsored Pacific Partnership mission was launched after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami with defence forces providing medical and other assistance to Pacific region communities.
Australia has participated every year.
The Australian Defence Force group is attached to a multi-national team aboard Japanese ship Kunisaki, delivering medical, dental, veterinary and engineering aid to Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
