Peter Barratt, 75, co-owner of West Coast Helicopters, started transporting doctors into the First Nations communities of Kingcome Inlet, Kyuquot and Wuikinuxv about 44 years ago. When payments for the flights into Wuikinuxv Nation on Rivers Inlet dried up in February, Barratt rung up the doctor.
He was scheduled to fly on July 7. “I needed to physically see that baby and I didn’t this past week,” said Armogam, who has provided health care to the people of Wuikinuxv Nation for 16 years. Since Barratt brought the problem to Armogam, there has been lots of correspondence with the First Nations Health Authority and others, but no resolution.
On Saturday, the First Nations Health Authority said it would look into the situation on Monday, when the appropriate people were available. He said one doctor flies from Port Alice to Kyuquot, two doctors fly from Alert Bay to Kingcome Inlet, and Armogam flies from Port McNeill into Wuikinuxv. “Between the three of them, they owe us $75,000 bucks.”