Jack Pickup

Harold Jackson Pickup (17 January 1919 – 11 February 1996) was a physician responsible for providing health care to remote communities in British Columbia while based out of the village of Alert Bay. He was sometimes known as the "Flying Doctor of British Columbia".

Early years and education Harold Jackson "Jack" Pickup was born on 17 January 1919 to William Samuel Pickup and Dorothy Mary Aylward. He had one sister, Zoe. Two years after he was born, the Pickup family relocated to Fort William, Ontario. Pickup graduated from high school early, at age 16.

Jack Pickup attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and graduated in 1942 as a surgeon and general practitioner. Though he intended to serve as a physician in the Royal Canadian Navy, Pickup was instead relegated to working at the tuberculosis sanatorium in Fort William for the remainder of the Second World War. Pickup briefly worked in Ontario, and had a practice in Dryden. Jack Pickup became very interested in the job in 1949 despite never having been to Alert Bay or even knowing where it was.

Upon arrival in the region, Pickup encountered difficulties transporting injured patients to the hospital in Alert Bay, as far as Kelsey Bay ( from Alert Bay) to the south and Bella Bella ( from Alert Bay) to the north. With sea travel proving too prolonged and land travel too difficult, Pickup made the decision to take flying lessons and become a pilot in order to better tend to his patients. His lessons were taken over the course of a three-week leave of absence and in September 1950 he received his pilot's licence flying a Luscombe 8A at Vancouver International Airport. With little time left to acquire a plane, Pickup looked at three available floatplanes before purchasing a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser (CF-EFC) for $3,500; he had also considered a Stinson Reliant and a Republic RC-3 Seabee. After purchasing the aircraft he flew the to Kenora to receive his floatplane endorsement, and then flew back to British Columbia and returned to Alert Bay. The trip to and from Ontario took Pickup twenty hours across five days and required nine stops on lakes and rivers for refuelling. On the return flight Pickup used the Yellowhead Pass between Jasper and Tête Jaune Cache to traverse the Rocky Mountains, following the Thompson and Fraser Rivers to the ocean and often flying lower than the granite cliffs on either side of the region's valleys. Along the way, Pickup used telephones to check in and allow others to monitor his progress westward, as there was no radio aboard his plane.

Pickup continued to use the Piper for three years, and its red and yellow colour scheme made it the best-known airplane in the region. Though he eventually installed a radio in its cockpit, the only signal he was usually able to pick up was from RCAF Port Hardy (now the Port Hardy Airport). Pickup would later remark that the Piper was his favourite to fly. Among other things, the Alert Bay Air Services provided medevac support for injured or killed loggers in remote areas in the region, and continued to do so after being amalgamated into Air BC along with a number of other aircraft companies in 1980. Smith's death sparked two years of controversy and government inquiries surrounding Pickup's medical malpractice, especially amid accusations that Pickup's heavy drinking habit had affected his ability to provide proper treatment. The practice was not unaccustomed to physicians behaving poorly: at the time of Smith's death, two doctors Pickup had worked with in Alert Bay had had their medical licences made conditional due to alcoholism and another's had been suspended outright.

After conducting an investigation, College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia issued a statement stating that Pickup had made "a regrettable and serious error in judgement", but took no action to stop him from practising medicine. In a statement made to the band government in June 1979, Dr. June Mills of North Battleford, Saskatchewan testified that Pickup's handling of Smith's illness was "on the level of malpractice". The investigation was led by Dr. Gary Goldthorpe, and became known as the "Goldthorpe Inquiry" as a result. The Goldthorpe Inquiry began on 3 March 1980, and found that First Nations people were 25% more likely to die in Alert Bay than elsewhere in Canada and that at least three patients (including Smith) had died of neglect or errors in judgement on Pickup's part. Testimony given by a local woman during the inquiry blamed Pickup for the death of Edna Alfred, who Pickup had misdiagnosed with having "gas"; Alfred died days after Pickup refused her treatment of a uterine infection. As well, increased scrutiny and tighter restrictions were enacted on St. George's Hospital in 1981 in order to limit the kind of surgeries Pickup could perform, including those related to child birth. Nonetheless, a new hospital was constructed on the reservation and staffed by two doctors and three nurses from Island Health, all paid for by the band government.

Retirement and final years After more than 40 years at St. George's Hospital, Pickup retired in late 1992 at the age of 73.

Pickup was involved in the creation of an airport in Alert Bay, and was one of seven members of the Village of Alert Bay Airport Committee established on 13 January 1994.

Jack Pickup died on 11 February 1996.

Personal life While practising in Alert Bay, Jack Pickup married his secretary, Lila. He was also adept at sailing.

Legacy Jack Pickup was modest when reflecting on his medical career. When asked in a 1997 interview with Aeroplane Monthly about the lives he impacted, Pickup replied:

I just treat ‘em: the Lord heals ‘em. No-one ever had a baby in my aeroplane.

A number of physicians in British Columbia were taught or mentored by Pickup, including pediatrician Basil Boulton.

CF-CCW ("Big Red"), the Waco AQC-6 biplane that Pickup piloted for 27 years, was donated to the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley in 1980 and is now on display there. The plane underwent decades of refurbishments and repairs before being deemed flight-worthy again after a successful test flight on 13 February 2002. The plane was flown many times in demonstrations throughout the 2000s before undergoing repairs in 2013 and relaunching in 2019. A similar red biplane is also depicted in the museum's official logo.

Dara Culhane Speck, a member of the 'Namgis First Nation by marriage, published a book in 1987 reflecting on the death of Renee Smith and ensuing controversy around Jack Pickup: An Error in Judgement: The Politics of Medical Care in an Indian/White Community.

Pickup was posthumously awarded the Freedom of the Municipality Award by the municipal government of Alert Bay. Alert Bay Airport, which Pickup helped establish but died before it was completed, was named "Dr. Harold Jackson Pickup Airport" in his honour.