A Suffolk County Grand Jury recently indicted a Cambridge man and four executives of LifeLine Ambulance in Woburn for their alleged involvement with falsifying EMT training records as part of a well-publicized scandal.
Thomas Codair Sr., 49, of Cambridge, is alleged to be the main person responsible for the controversy. Codair previously worked as an emergency medical technician at Armstrong Ambulance and taught EMT refresher courses to police officers and firefighters from 2006 through 2009. He is accused of falsely re-certifying dozens of EMTs who did not complete or even attend the training.
Codair is not employed by LifeLine, but four of his co-defendants run the company.
The investigation began in December 2008 and a Suffolk County Grand Jury returned indictments against Codair and four LifeLine Ambulance executives on April 28, 2011. In addition to Codair, these executives include Brian Connor, 49, of Arlington, the president of LifeLine; and Jonathan Kulis, 37, of Wilmington; Michael McPherson, 38, of Billerica; and Brian O’Connor, 39, of Woburn, all vice presidents of the company.
All of the indicted men are charged with Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) violation, which is making false statements aiding evasion of OEMS requirements. They are also charged with conspiracy to commit OEMS violation.
Once EMTs are initially certified, OEMS requires them to renew their certificates every two years. These classes are intended to provide additional training and education to help EMTs remain up-to-date with new developments in emergency medical services.
Allegedly, Codair permitted EMTs to sign rosters for these courses without actually attending the course and then submitted them to OEMS, which then qualified the EMTs for recertification.
Authorities allege that Connor, Kulis, McPherson and O’Connor did not attend any classes, but signed attendance rosters for a refresher course in 2007. Subsequently, Codair is believed to have submitted the rosters to OEMS for credit.
Each of the men will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court at a later date.
Source: Woburn Advocate
CORRECTION: Because of a reporting error, it was incorrectly stated that Codair is employed by LifeLine Ambulance in a prior version of this story. He is not, but his co-defendants are.
Great reporting…. maybe the writer should go back to the 8th grade; if you read the woburn article… Tom Codair is not employed by LifeLine; more importantly…. this is BS; 95% of the ems industry signs rosters…..perhaps our great judicial system could focus their attention on the gas gouging oil companies instead of looking for the $25 gum balls…. lets go after the 25 billion dollar profits and the poor slobs like us who now have to pay over $4 gal to get to work for $13 hour !!!!
We issued a correction about Codair with our regrets. In the reporter’s defense, the Woburn Advocate story is extremely confusing and made it seem like he was a vice president.
@Ray Martini: Let’s take your bizarre comment apart, shall we?
1) “Great reporting…. maybe the writer should go back to the 8th grade; if you read the woburn article… ”
You start off with an ad hominem, which makes it irrelevant to whatever you’re trying to say. You also misuse the semicolon first here, then over and over. This is something very few Globe reporters struggle with.
2) “Tom Codair is not employed by LifeLine;”
Correct. This appears to be a reporting error.
3) “more importantly…. this is BS; 95% of the ems industry signs rosters…..”
Oh come on now, you know this is a BS argument. “But the other guys do it too!” doesn’t work with prosecutors or judges. Pointing out the fact that most private EMS companies in Massachusetts are more concerned with obtaining new facility contracts and opening new bases left and right (see LifeLine, for example) than they are with maintaining educational and training standards doesn’t mean that’s how it SHOULD be.
4) “…..perhaps our great judicial system could focus their attention on the gas gouging oil companies instead of looking for the $25 gum balls…. lets go after the 25 billion dollar profits and the poor slobs like us who now have to pay over $4 gal to get to work for $13 hour !!!!”
Another complete non sequitur. It simply does not logically follow that because Coakley’s office is pursuing an aggressive investigation into those who falsify records we therefore can’t do anything about oil companies receiving subsidies and tax breaks. What the hell do these things have to do with each other, exactly? Just felt like ranting about oil? I agree with your point, it’s just a non sequitur and adds nothing to your already seriously weak argument which can be summed up as follows: “Everyone falsifies records in EMS. What about big oil companies? Also here’s a semicolon;”
Also I’d just like to thank Martha Coakley and her office for going after these people. People like this are a part of the reason I decided to leave EMS. Next up, Medicare fraud investigation.
these refresher classes actually exist. I have attended classes at Advantage Tranning (run by Tom C.) three times, in 04,06and 08. the class dosn’t really teach us anything new, just remindes us of things we already know, but rarely use day to day. I have nothing but high regards for Tom and all the guys at Lifeline. I worked for them for several years (at Armstrong)and can tell you that in all the industry, there guys are the best!.