House calls to the homeless

Charity | Missionary doctor Ken McMillan is a one-man ministry among Native Americans in Minnesota | Noël Piper

It's a classic missionary story—dedicated doctor packs his clinic into a bag and bikes to secluded places to provide basic medical care to isolated people in the name of Jesus. But this story has a twist. Dr. Ken McMillan is indeed serving tribal people, but he is in Minneapolis, working among homeless Native Americans.

In 1996, McMillan and his family were forced by war to leave their mission work in Congo (then Zaire). Since they hoped for an early return, McMillan didn't want to get started in private practice in the United States.

Then he met the Rev. Gordon Thayer, Native American founder of Kola (Ojibwe for "friend"). Kola is a Minneapolis program for Native homeless persons, with a daytime drop-in center providing multiple services. Hennepin County had approved funding for improved health services, and Thayer persuaded McMillan that even six months or a year of his time would enormously help this needy population.

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December 23, 2006, Vol. 21, No. 49

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