Dr. Bedros Kojian

Orange City News/Register

Dec. 6, 2004

By Kyra Kirkwood

There's a woman in Armenia who today can live a normal life, all because of a doctor half a world away.

Dr. Bedros Kojian, an Orange-based OB/GYN for the past 25 years, is at the stage of his accomplished career where he could be thinking of sailboats and well-earned tropical vacations. Instead, he's spending his own money and vacation time to travel twice a year to his adopted homeland of Armenia, treating hundreds of poor women and providing surgeries to those in need, all free of charge.

During his latest journey in October, Kojian performed a five-hour gynecological surgery to a woman whose extreme physical ailment dissolved her quality of life. With no money for treatment, and no local doctor willing or able to help, Kojian was the woman's only resort. And, as he reports with a modest smile while sitting in his photo-filled office, the mission was successfully accomplished.

"She was like a newborn,” Kojian said. "You should have seen how happy she was.”

A call to Armenia a month after his return proved that the woman is continuing her newfound life, feeling great and healing beautifully. The smile reaching Kojian's eyes illustrated how personally he takes his work and the welfare of his patients both near and far.

Stories like this are nothing new to Kojian, a doctor since 1968. This Ethiopian native, who attended medical school in Armenia before coming to the United States in 1975, began his humanitarian outreach after the 1988 Armenian earthquake. There, he saw the desperate need for quality women's medical care, but the former Soviet regime of the country didn't make it possible for Kojian to offer his services until six years ago.

Since then, he spends two weeks twice a year flying across the globe with the support of the Armenian American Medical Society of California and the United Armenian Fund, which help ship the many donations of medical equipment and supplies Kojian receives. St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, as well as companies like Johnson & Johnson, Steris and Valley Lab, are instrumental in supplying much-needed products, such as ultrasounds, mammogram machines and laparoscopic equipment.

"There are a lot of people who have helped me to achieve these goals,” he said.

Kojian practices at the Shengavit Medical Center in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. Ads in local newspapers and radio stations publicize his arrival, but word of mouth reaches much farther. In any given trip, Kojian sees approximately 200 patients and performs up to 35 surgeries, all to women who most likely would never have been treated before. Fibroids, endometriosis, uterine prolapse with urinary incontinence, marked pelvic relaxation—he's seen it all. Even reconstruction and life-saving acts aren't rare. On one trip, Kojian responded after a routine Cesarean section went wrong. He saved the young mother's life, despite complications, and she and her child are now doing fine.

Not only does Kojian saves lives, he helps create families. Since the country has no advanced fertility procedures (like I.V.F.), Kojian is an infertile woman's only hope. He often performs microsurgery to correct anatomical issues related to infertility, giving women a chance to become pregnant.

"It's very thrilling,” he said. "People who haven't become pregnant for years suddenly become pregnant. They are so grateful.”

Because Kojian handles the complex cases, there's rarely a free moment in his visit; he can often be found in surgery at 10 p.m. But still, he finds time to teach the Armenian doctors some of his techniques, enabling them to follow in his footsteps.

"[They] have mastered the surgeries I perform,” said Kojian, the father of four grown children and the speaker of six languages. "Anything I can teach, I show them.”

At first, the local medics displayed reservations about an American coming forth and offering his medical services. But before long, Kojian earned the trust and respect of his Armenian counterparts.

"We're like brothers now,” he said, noting how they often call him here for advice and consults.

The patients, used to the oft-brusque bedside manner of visiting doctors, didn't harbor any expectations; they only craved help from anyone who would provide it. Kojian opened up their eyes, showing them that doctors can have a caring, bedside manner.

"I treated them humanly, like an equal.”

Despite his worldwide humanitarian efforts, Kojian doesn't sacrifice his hometown patients. In fact, he's proud to state he still tries to deliver all of his clients' babies himself, often dashing out of the office to guide a new life into the world. So in the past 30+ years, how many babies has he delivered? Thousands?

Kojian laughed a hearty chuckle and said, "We never count.”