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Air Force doctor committed to humanitarian service

  • Published
  • By Sue Campbell
  • 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AETCNS) --  Lt. Col. (Dr.) Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist in the 859th Medical Operations Squadron, rarely takes a routine vacation. He devotes almost all his leave time to humanitarian service.

He and his wife Kim, a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center, just returned from a trip to Zambia where the Milhoans opened an AIDS orphanage.

"This is the second AIDS orphanage we've opened in Zambia," Colonel Milhoan explained. "We opened the first one in January 2003 that houses 16 children and this second one, about five miles from the first, opened on January 30 and will house 30 more. Each child has at least one parent who has died of AIDS and about one-third have HIV/AIDS themselves."

Approximately 1/3 of the 11 million people in Zambia are HIV-positive. The average lifespan for a man there is between 33 and 36 years of age. This statistic has resulted in about 650,000 orphans, and the country anticipates that number will rise to two million by the end of 2006.

"When a child is hospitalized in Zambia, family members are required to bring food for the children and feed them daily. There is no nutrition service provided, and orphans are in a difficult place if no one is watching out for them. There is no other place for sick children to go in the area so our orphanage was started with the mission of caring for the infants and children that no one else would take," Colonel Milhoan said.

"The amount of death and dying in Zambia is shocking," he said. "There is a baby graveyard in Zambia where the mothers dig the graves themselves, and there is often a line of women waiting their turn to bury their infants. It just breaks my heart."

Colonel Milhoan's AIDS orphanages provide around-the-clock care for the children. The facilities are funded through a non-profit organization he chartered. The cost averages $100 a month per child, which includes salaries for employees, electricity, water, medicine, schooling and food.

"The cost is higher for infants as formula is very expensive in Zambia and caring for them is more labor-intensive," Colonel Milhoan said. "Many children in Zambia are lucky to eat meat once a year. Our kids get protein in their diet daily, including meat four or five times a week. One of our big problems is people stealing food from the orphanages because our children are fed so well."

The Zambia AIDS orphanages are only the beginning of Colonel Milhoan's humanitarian work. During the last five years he has traveled to Uzbekistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Tibet, Kenya and Mongolia to perform pediatric cardiology screenings and surgery. He also volunteered at an orphanage in Mexico.

All these trips were at his own expense, either on permissive travel orders or during leave status.

"I'm allowed one permissive trip a year to do humanitarian work. For the other trips I gladly use my leave," Colonel Milhoan said. "I find these opportunities to serve have been invaluable in furthering my knowledge in pediatric cardiology, as well as giving me enormous personal fulfillment. It's been very interesting to learn how to deal with different cultures, but I've discovered that children are all basically the same. They want to be loved and to play."

Colonel Milhoan has traveled to Kosovo three times and to Mongolia nine times. His last trip to Mongolia was in October 2005, where he lead a large team of doctors and nurses and performed the first pediatric heart surgery with bypass in that country.

"They were still using 1955 technology for heart surgery, involving emersing the child in ice and while giving them ether anesthesia," he said. "Of all the children I examine at Wilford Hall, maybe 20 percent of them have some kind of heart disease. When I was in Mongolia, I saw 500 kids with significant heart disease in a little over a week."

Colonel Milhoan's trips are both educational and heartbreaking he says, since he regularly examines children who did not receive prompt cardiac care and are no longer candidates for surgical repair.

"I see what happens if you don't repair lesions in a timely manner. The hardest part of my trips is having to explain to a crying mother why her child is no longer a candidate to receive a life-saving surgery," he said. "That is the reason why I keep going back--to try to find kids before it is too late."