by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

ARVIAT (Oct 06/97) - A coroner in Arviat wants an inquest called into the death of a 10-year-old boy who died a day after he fell off his bike despite seeking medical attention at the nursing station.

James Karetak said he wants to know why Armand Kaviok wasn't medevaced before he died 8:30 a.m. Sept.27.

Cpl. Bill Eubank said Kaviok was riding his bicycle when he hit a rock and fell off near the Mikilaaq Centre around 4 p.m. the day before he died.

"According to witnesses, he was riding down the street, fell off the bike and fell onto the handlebars," he said. "He got one of the handlebars in the abdomen. He got up real slow."

Kaviok had gone to the nursing station with his mother Elizabeth Irkok, but he was released when they couldn't determine the seriousness of his injuries.

After at least one subsequent visit to the nursing station and nurses calling a doctor in Churchill, Man., to get a second opinion on the diagnosis, Kaviok was sent home.

By the next morning, Irkok was phoning the nursing station to tell them her son had trouble breathing. Moments later, she called the RCMP because he had stopped breathing.

Eubank said CPR was administered, but he couldn't be revived.

Kaviok's body was sent to Edmonton for an autopsy. His funeral was scheduled for Saturday to be held at Qitiqliq high school.