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September 25, 2008

Investigation shuts down Hamilton ambulance service Lyons to serve town until further notice

By Steve Landwehr

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Police Department yesterday suspended its ambulance service, after a state investigation revealed "serious deficiencies" in the medical training records of police officers.

All Hamilton police officers are required to be state-certified as emergency medical technicians. The deficient records raise questions about whether the officers got paid for training they never took and, more importantly, had proper training to respond to medical calls.

Lyons Ambulance Service of Danvers and Beverly will respond to calls for medical assistance in Hamilton until further notice. People should continue to call 911 in an emergency.

Dick Low, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, confirmed yesterday the board has been notified of "serious deficiencies in recertification training records" by the state Office of Emergency Medical Services, which began investigating in August. He called the switch to Lyons Ambulance "temporary" and noted the company already supplies some service to the town.

He wasn't sure if Lyons intends to station an ambulance in town.

Low said police Chief Walter Cullen decided it was in the best safety interests of residents to have Lyons take over the service for the time being.

Low said selectmen have been given until tomorrow to come up with a plan to correct the problems in the department and keep them from happening again.

"I think we can do it," he said.

Asked whether having EMTs who weren't properly certified could open the town to lawsuits, Low replied it was one of the questions being looked at. He would not speculate about what punishment, if any, might be forthcoming.

Every full-time officer in the department has been receiving extra pay for state certification as an EMT and additional pay to maintain that certification.

Cullen referred all questions to the selectmen yesterday, saying only, "Everything is under investigation."

Nonexistent classes?

A spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Medical Services would not confirm details about the investigation yesterday.

But Michael Marchand, a Hamilton police officer who is on paid administrative leave, told The Salem News he informed Town Administrator Candace Wheeler twice last January that officers were routinely signing attendance sheets for medical training courses that they never took and for others that were never held. Marchand said he was asked to keep quiet and let the town handle the problem internally.

Most, if not all, of those courses were scheduled to be taught by Officer David Mastrianni, Cullen's son-in-law. Mastrianni, a part-time officer who was the department's EMT training officer, recently resigned from the force.

Cullen also recently announced he is retiring in February, although Low stressed that decision was made before the state investigation began. He would reach mandatory retirement age in December 2009.

Wheeler did not return a call seeking comment.

It was unclear yesterday how many officers may have deficient records or exactly what the deficiencies were.

But documents available on the Office of Emergency Medical Services' Web site raise some questions. Some officers, for example, claimed to have taken a basic 24-hour refresher course — required only once every two years — twice in the same year. Those officers included Cullen; Lt. Robert Nyland (second-in-command), Sgt. Scott Janes and Officer Ken Nagy.

In fact, Cullen's record indicates he inexplicably took the course in both November and December 2006.

Among the other types of courses EMTs are required to take periodically are handling cardiac emergencies, spinal injuries and respiratory emergencies.

Penalties possible

According to Massachusetts General Laws, EMTs can be fined up to $500 a day for each deficiency if the state orders them to correct the problems and they do not do so within the time allowed.

Full-time Hamilton police officers get an additional $60 a week for having EMT certification and also receive 30 hours of overtime pay each year to take required refresher courses. There are 15 full-time officers on the force in Hamilton, a town of about 8,000 people, and 10 part-time officers.

The Salem News reported in August that selectmen were made aware of allegations about the training records in a closed-door meeting with Michael Sacco, an attorney representing Officer Marchand, on Nov. 26, 2007.

Low said yesterday the allegations were among a list of things to be investigated when the board hired Robert Pomeroy, chief of police in Plymouth, to conduct an independent investigation of the department. Pomeroy was not hired until mid-July, however, eight months after board members were made aware of the allegations.

Marchand is suing the town over its denial of his request that he be given "injured-on-duty pay," rather than being placed on administrative leave. Marchand claims he suffered mental and physical anguish when he was accused by fellow officers of using strong-arm tactics while raising money to add a cupola to the Public Services Building.

The investigation by the Office of Emergency Medical Services, which is a division of the state Department of Public Health, is the fourth into activities in the Police Department since the first of the year. The first two investigations involved allegations of improprieties during fundraising for the cupola. Two independent investigators hired by the town cleared Marchand of wrongdoing. One of the investigators, Gerald Hayes, further said Officers Karen Wallace and Arthur Hatfield acted inappropriately by conducting unauthorized investigations of Marchand during the dispute.

Hayes also said Town Counsel Donna MacKenna wrongly involved herself in the department's business and its politics, even if unwittingly.

Pomeroy is still conducting his investigation. Low has declined to specify the scope of that investigation.

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Investigation shuts down Hamilton ambulance service Lyons to serve town until further notice
by By Steve Landwehr , , Thu Sep 25, 2008, 12:39 AM EDT
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