Milford man’s mission of mercy

Thursday, November 19, 2009

By KATHY CLEVELAND

Staff Writer

MILFORD – In a sense, Willie James Miles’ journey to Africa started with a mouth-watering pile of seafood spread out on newspaper.

Six years ago, Miles was home with his family in Alabama on leave from the U.S. Army and enjoying a seafood boil, a Gulf Coast specialty traditionally served on newspaper.

And on the newspaper piled with crayfish, blue crab and alligator meat, Miles noticed an ad for training in medical instrument repair. That sounded more appealing to him than repairing aviation engines, a skill he learned in the Army.

So he called the phone number in the ad, and two weeks later he was on his way to Integrated Medical Systems in Birmingham.

Miles, 34, lives in Milford now and works on a mobile van repairing and maintaining surgical equipment for New England hospitals, including many in New Hampshire.

When he learned earlier this fall that skilled workers were needed for an 18-day trip aboard a floating hospital called Africa Mercy, Miles didn’t hesitate to sign up to visit Benin, a country in West Africa.

Africa Mercy is run by Mercy Ships, an international medical aid organization that performs an estimated 7,000 onboard surgeries per year. Instruments of Mercy, another nonprofit organization, provides instrument refurbishment onboard the Africa Mercy.

Miles, his wife, Veronica, and their four children know what the help of others means for people in need.

In 2005 they lost their home in Biloxi, Miss., to Hurricane Katrina. The family had just moved into a rented house about a half-mile from the Gulf of Mexico when the storm surge struck, washing away the van full of Miles’ tools and most of their belongings.

They spent a night in a shelter then moved back to Birmingham to live in a company-owned apartment. Miles was eventually transferred to Massachusetts – his territory was in New Orleans and it was “pretty much washed away” in the hurricane, he said.

“We received a lot of help. At any opportunity, when we can give back, we try to,” he said.

During his first week on the Africa Mercy, Miles inspected, modified or repaired 4,700 instruments, working from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day.

The instruments – for orthopedic, dental, eye surgery and plastic surgery – hadn’t been professionally repaired in five years.

Many of the on-board surgeries are cataract surgeries, and sometimes the cataracts are so thick they completely obscure the patient’s vision, said Gene Robinson, CEO of Integrated Medical Systems and founder of Instruments of Mercy.

“The volunteer doctors and nurses aboard ship are literally restoring sight to the blind,” he said. “The surgeries performed aboard this ship change lives dramatically.”

Miles said his family is “extremely glad” he had an opportunity to go to Africa.

“I meet some of the local people and I saw how much it means to them,” he said.

“I would definitely do it again.”

Miles and his family moved up here from Massachusetts two years ago after a friend at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center told him Milford was a good place to live.

“We always try to get involved and keep the kids involved,” he said. For example, his two young daughters, Raven and Aja, set up a lemonade stand on Nashua Street last summer and made $165 they gave to a local animal shelter.