George Woolston
Burlington County Times, Willingboro, N.J.
BURLINGTON COUNTY, N.J. — A Williamstown woman in charge of an EMT instructor program faces a one-year suspension after an investigation found she allegedly failed to keep adequate records for more than two dozen courses over four years.
The State Department of Health has proposed a one-year suspension for Deborah McClintock, former EMT-Instructor Program Coordinator for the Virtua Health at Rowan College of Burlington County EMT Training Program.
McClintock was responsible for overseeing the certification or recertification of EMT instructors and EMT instructor aides by tracking and validating the 120 teaching hours required by the department of health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS).
However, an investigation by OEMS found McClintock allegedly failed to accurately track teaching hours for 30 courses from 2015 to 2019. As a result, OEMS is unable to tell if the instructors logged the required hours.
McClintock endorsed at least 19 EMT Instructors and 5 EMT Instructor aides for recertification and certification during that time, investigators said.
She was removed as the coordinator of the EMT Program as soon as Virtua and Rowan College of Burlington County became aware of the violations, both organizations said in a joint statement, and is no longer employed by either organization.
A new program coordinator has assumed oversight, and a fall semester class is currently in session.
No EMT instructors or instructor aides have been impacted, both organizations said.
Virtua Health partnered with RCBC to offer EMT instruction in 2016.
The investigation began last November, after OEMS reviewed an EMT instructor application with several inconsistencies. The application was endorsed by McClintock.
In a letter to McClintock notifying her of the proposed suspension, Terry Clancy, director of OEMS, writes the violations, “... pose a threat to the public’s health, safety and welfare because you failed to ensure that the instructors and aides of the Virtua Health EMT Program had adequate oversight and sufficient experience to train EMT students to provide high quality emergency medical care to the critically sick and injured patients of this State.”
McClintock has 30 days from Sept. 22 to request a hearing before the Office of Administrative Law contest the suspension.
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©2020 Burlington County Times, Willingboro, N.J.