Cataldo To Fire EMTs Suspended Due To Re-Certification Investigation

Cataldo Ambulance plans to fire any of its EMTs who face suspensions as the result of a state investigation that revealed those EMTs received and submitted false training re-certifications to their employers, Cataldo Ambulance Vice President Dennis Cataldo said on Tuesday.

"None of our staff that function in the Melrose 911 system were named in the investigation," Cataldo added. "No regularly scheduled staff (in Melrose) are on the list at all."

Calls to the state Department of Public Health (DPH) were not immediately returned.

Last week, the DPH announced that 213 EMTs statewide faced suspensions and, in two cases, permanent revocation of their EMT-Paramedic certification as a result of the investigation. The final list had not yet been released and Cataldo told Melrose Patch that he estimated 20-30 EMTs who worked for Cataldo Ambulance, which serves Melrose, would ultimately face suspensions.

The final list released this week shows 46 EMTs associated with Cataldo Ambulance or Atlantic Ambulance, a division of Cataldo Ambulance that serves Lynn, Salem, Marblehead and Peabody. Cataldo Ambulance's Somerville division serves Melrose and six other communities, while its Boston division serves Boston and Newton.

Of those 46 EMTs, Cataldo said approximately 30 are full-time employees; approximately 11 do not provide patient care, but instead work in the office; and Cataldo disputed another five employees being associated on the state's list with Cataldo Ambulance, saying that those EMTs were "terminated prior to this investigation being conducted."

Another four ambulance companies and a dozen communities have EMTs facing suspensions as a result of the investigation.

Because the list groups together EMTs who worked for either Cataldo Ambulance or Atlantic Ambulance in one group, Melrose Patch asked Cataldo if there was a definitive figure of suspended EMTs attributed to the Cataldo division and the Atlantic division.

"There's not a distinctive split," he responded. "The (affected) shifts are greater on the Atlantic side because they had the most contact with Mark Culleton."

Culleton is one of two EMT instructors who has had his EMT-Paramedic certification permanently revoked due to the investigation. The DPH stated last week that Culleton and Leo Nault failed to conduct required EMT refresher training courses; falsified training documentation; and in some cases received money from EMTs in exchange for the false records.

On the state's list of suspended EMTs, Culleton, a Lexington firefighter, is listed as employed with Cataldo-Atlantic.

Cataldo said that Culleton previously worked as a part-time, per diem dispatcher for Atlantic Ambulance, working one shift or so a month, before joining the Lexington Fire Department.

"When he went to start his own EMT training service, geographically he had a lot of contacts in and around our service area," he said.

According to the DPH's investigative report, the state identified 67 individuals whose names appeared on re-certification class rosters submitted by Culleton who had not attended a course at all.

"The vast majority of these EMTs worked at Atlantic and/or Cataldo Ambulance Services," the report states.

Of the EMTs listed by state for Cataldo-Atlantic, the majority received nine-month suspensions. One received a two-year-suspension; one also had his state examiner license revoked, and two received 45-day suspensions.

Cataldo said that because the investigation has been ongoing, his company and other ambulance services companies have been kept informed by the state about EMTs whose re-certifications were in question.

"All these people were pretty much identified two months ago, at which time they were all taken off shifts, re-trained and given full certification," he said. " What's occurred now is that as of July 1, they're going to take those folks … and impose these 45-day or nine-month suspensions, depending on what the level of their actions were. We will be terminating all employees that are associated (with the suspensions)."

Cataldo emphasized again, as he did last week, that the results of the investigation will not impact Cataldo Ambulance's service.

"We've expected this information to be forthcoming for the last month and half or so," he said. "We've been prepared to deal with it."

Cataldo Ambulance agreed to a three-year contract with Melrose City Hall that started on July 1, 2008.