Fifteen firefighters wasted three months and the city is out $67,500 after the State of Texas shut down a basic paramedic course run by Pan American Institute Emergency Medical Sciences finding it did not meet the requirements for the training and had fraudulently applied under the guise of a UT Brownsville-taught course.
The firm founded by UTB instructor Adiel Garcia in early April was awarded the contract to teach 15 Brownsville firefighters a basic Paramedic Training Program and was approved by the city commission during their April 16 meeting based on the recommendation by Fire Department Chief Lenny Perez and a five-person evaluation committee. At the time, the commissioners were not told that Pan American Institute had not yet been approved as a training provider by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Neither Perez nor Garcia told the commissioners that the firm had submitted its proposal to teach the course to the state using a UTB course number already approved by the state.
The university was apparently unaware that the instructors – including Garcia – did not notify the university that they were going to apply to teach the course off campus using university course materials and UTB logo apparel."For all practical purposes, the students thought that they were being taught by UTB instructors and that the course counted the same as the one taught at UTB," said a firefighter with knowledge of the matter. "But the university knew nothing about it and did not know that its course number had been used by Pan American to land the city contract."
The motion to approve the contract with the new firm formed by Garcia was made by commissioner Rose Gowen and seconded by commissioner Rick
Longoria. They did so largely based on a letter that Perez attached to the agenda packet where he assure them thatr "PAIEMS...meets all the requirements for conducting this course."
On Friday, the TSDHS officially ordered a "pause" on the instruction of the course by PAIEMS pending an investigation into its application to teach the course and the allegedly fraudulent use of the UTB course number to gain approval from the state.The classes have been conducted by Garcia, listed on the UTB website as an Assistant Master Technical Instructor Allied Health, and several assistants at Fire Station 8 (Port of Brownsville since April when the contract was approved by the city.
However, some city hall observers say that Perez, as fire chief, Sam Oretega, Assistant Fire Chief/EMS Directotr, and Javier Quiroga, Lt. EMS Training Officer should have known better. All three were on the evaluation committee and along with the city's Oscar Salinas, Human Resource Director and Cruz Lopez, Assistant Fire Chief/Training officer, recommended that PAIEMS be awarded the contract.
In their report, they noted that of the 50 companies on the Texas Bid System that received an invitation to participate, five accessed and downloaded the Request For Proposals package issued March 3 and only one (PAIEMS) submitted a proposal.by March 20. The pre-proposal meeting was held March 20 and its proposal was the only one reviewed.
"Lenny, Ortega and Quiroga should have known better," said the city source. "PAIEMS was going to teach a course that normally requires between 1,000 to 1,200 hours in only about 576 hours according to their proposal to the city. The company was not certified to teach that course. A the end of the course the students had to pass a national test. It's highly doubtful that they would be ready to take it."
Ever since Perez has been fire chief he has garnered a reputation for hogging the spotlight and making decisions that ultimately are overturned on appeal by his targets. He, for example, took credit for the heroic deeds of firefighters and EMS paramedics at the Queen Isabella Causeway disaster by accepting the congressional proclamations and making sure that the real heroes of the day were kept away from City Hall when they were issued.
Just recently, Cameron County held a ceremony honoring first responders who had fallen in the line of duty. As usual, Perez did not inform local firefighters and paramedics of the event but showed up to receive the honors on their behalf decked out in his finest service uniform.
Will this proven perpetrator of stolen valor now take the center stage and own up to the fact that once again he has failed miserably in doing his due diligence in protecting the city and its citizens? And will Gowen, Longoria and the rest of the city commission take appropriate measures to control the damage caused by his latest foible?
33 comments:
What will it take to get this buffoon fired?! His tenure has been a tragic failure. Rick Longoria needs to pull the stick out of his ass and quit protecting Chief Lenny just to spite the real paramedic / firefighters he seems to be so jealous of. Doughboy Rick Longoria insists on putting our hard working first responders down despite what his constituents want.
This pendejo Fire Chief is only there because the City Leaders leave him there. Smells like a kickback for cash scheme to me.
LAWSUIT!!!
Cruz Lopez has been selling sick leave hours, meant for legitimate sick leave purpose, for extra cash. The hours are then converted to more cash by retiring firefighters to augment their retirement package. This has been done under Perez and unfortunately to the detriment of the taxpayers coffer. By selling sick leave hours Lopez is violating the Collective bargaining agreement. Perez knowingly allows this practice to flaunt his authority. Firefighters can accrue sick leave hours or buy them from Lopez. Joe Horn, ex-chief administrator used all sick leave hours while in the active reserves with the coast guard.
No one is accountable. City, State, or Federal. It don't make a damn bit of difference. There is absolutely no accountability, Period.
El pendejo que es Lenny can't even write a fucking simple memo!!!
"....will like to recommend..."
Why is this menso still being allowed to fart on the fire chief chair???
Sick leave accrues at 15 hours/month or 180/year. Ex chief administrator Horn has amassed the max allowed for sell back to the city within months. Not surprisingly Asst. chief Lopez had the same number of sick leave hours deducted from his personal sick leave account. The records are meticulously kept and reflect the sale from and addition to different firefighters' sick leave account. Some have already retired. Perez must be benefiting from this scheme. Buy at a few dollars and sell back to city for max dollars. With the chiefs' approval no one is the wiser, not even the citys' CFO, or city manager.
This is a good example why the city has to hire only people that are already certified as firefighter/paramedics.
PURA CORRUPCION 'HUELE A GAS' AL BOTE A TODOS ESTOS CORRUPTOS QUE LABORAN EN LA CUIDAD.
Isn't it normal that UTB administrators don't know what's going on with the vocational education program personnel? They've forgotten about vocational education a decade ago. Who knows what else is going on in that vacuum. That's one of the reasons the TSC board canned President Garcia.
Wow! I wonder what other corruption has happened in front of our faces that that think is legal... like intrapments by our BPD finest giving free tickets... holidays around the corner... gotta make for holiday bonuses
Lenny Perez, David hinojosa, Cruz Lopez unfortunately have run this department to the ground,including joe horn when he was also deputy chief. None of these imbeciles ever attended a basic structural firefighting academy throughout their career,have no management skills other than what was taught to them from the previous supervisors, have no incident command structure experience, however they sit in their fancy offices demanding respect from their constituents. They milked the system way too long and they got away with it. Time to go bozos!,,,
Wow
Who is to say that the Union local 970 didn't do all this as an excuse to stop the program and then get their "compadre" Justin Oakerson to teach the paramedic students. He already owns the new ambulance company, along with union president carlos elisondo, that wants to come into Brownsville.
Just another example of incompetence and piss-poor oversight by the policy makers. Seems like Rose Gowen and Rick Longoria failed the citizens and Lenny, the Fire Chief failed them by either failing to check out the course or by being part of the fraud.
Commissioners Dr Gowen an Rick longoria ARE NOT TO BE BLAMED. The commissioners were just following the recommendations of the Fire Chief, the question is did the city manager place the fire chief on leave after class was suspended by the State? If the City Manager hasn't or will not does that mean he knew all along that the company was bogus? I smell a kick back.
reply 4.41 you are wright HUELE A GAS AND KICK BACK city mgr needs to go we need new blood.
The City trusted this idiot Fire Chief with recommending a bullshit 67,000.00 paramedic class ????????
Entonces TODOS son pendejos !!!
It costs $4500 for a "class" to be a paramedic!? The book is like $100, isn't it? Don't they know how to read? They need to pay $4500 to be told to read a freakin' book and take a state test?
Wow. Government workers never cease to amaze me.
Really its irrelevant who complained. How dare anybody question the integrety of the union president. Its not like he would ever use a city computer to cherry pick non emergency transfer to give out to his business partner who owns a private ambulance service. He would never do such a thing. Oh wait he and his business partner also just happen to have a program that teaches the paramedic class. Hey we should use them instead bet you Mr pillar of integraty would have never thought of that. He is no concerned about the poor cadets. He sure didn't care before when other providers were used and the majority of cadets failed. Some even got fired for not being able to pass the paramedic exam. Where was ur concern then Mr. Perez. I guess one day all programs will be as good and professional as Mr. Oakersons ur business partner. Lets who did he have teaching the emt to high-school students. Oh yeah Mr paintballer the guy who was arrested for paintballing city property on duty. He is not even a certified instructor. Where is ur concern there. Well as long as ur making money its not a concern to you.
And this is why the of Brownsville and B.F.D are the laughing stock of the valley.
1:05 PM is Celina Rojas. Plinio Rojas wife. She is always going against the Union and now she begging for help. Go ask Erin to help you now bitch. Since you were telling everyone that you and your husband Plinio were backstabbing the union by supporting Erin Hernandez. Don't bite the hand that feeds you,bitch.
Joaqin your an idiot, even though its not possible for someone to just buy a 100 dollar book and become a paramedic, just think would you want someone who knows how to take a test or someone who has been trained by a proven program to work on your mom or dad, wife and children. do some research before you show everyone your ignorance. All of this is politically driven just to bring oakerson or should i say jokerson and and elizondo who is co-owner of the company into brownsville. They employ many firefighters from brownsville from medics to administrators and some in which are "best buds with city commisioners" so stand back and take a look at who is greasing whos wheels here. For elizondo to come out on the news tonight and play dumb saying he heard everything from a firefighter in the class after they shut it down shows what kind of snake he is. As soon as the state shut down the class he was already going from station to station telling us to sign a letter against the chief and get him out, also his employees with jokersons company are bragging that those two were the driving force behind this whole investigation, and telling everyone that they are going to be hiring alot of people soon cause they are going to be taking over the brownsville contracts for EMS. Its sad to see how greed has led to this political bashing leaving all of us who took an oath to save lives and protect property to be put in a negative spotlight due to the actions of a few. That latest post is just an example, for one they name persons directly and two dont bite the hand that feeds you....??? Cmon really? These are the types of crooks you want to show up to your house when you have an emergency?
First off, it's "you're" not "your" but I know this was likely just a typo. You probably know the difference. And second, before I posted the response, I actually did look it up and you can, in fact, buy the book, take the test, and become a paramedic. You do need to be certified in CPR and other first aid type things but none are more than 4 to 8 hours of hands on training. I also found you can take a 9 month course in pharmacy technician training and pay upwards of $10,000 for the class or, like a paramedic, you can buy the book, study, then take the state test. In conclusion, perhaps it is you who needs to "do some research," cupcake.
Joaquin "you're" stupid
Joaquin, totally wrong and misinformed. Classes must be accredited by the national board of EMS effective 2013, and after completing the course, one must pass the national registry paramedic exam. If you fail after the second time, refresher course must be taken then after retake the whole course again. Requirements have changed and adult continued education paramedic courses to achieve a state certification are no longer available. All new paramedics must and will be national registered paramedics, just FYI as paramedics have never really been seen as professional medical personnel, some still call them ambulance drivers.
joaquin, apparently you know nothing about ems education. for your information each paramedic program has to be approved by the state. and each course also has to be approved and is given a course number. the certification exam that graduating paramedics take is the National Registry of EMT's (www.nremt.org) and when you apply to take the exam it asks you for a course completion number. so to add to your lack of research there is no way you can buy a paramedic book for $100 and then step into the testing center to take the certification exam. the nremt verifies that the course number is approved by the state. sorry but its not as easy as you think it is. I have been an ems educator for over 15 years and have coordinated many courses. what I do agree on is that what PAMIEMS did was fraud and they won this bid because of politics. they said there was only 1 bid but thats a lie too. I say this because I submitted a bid also and I just found out the they gave me the wrong information for the bidding process and my bid was never considered. and by the way it was alot lower than $4500 Im sure I could have provided a much better course too.
Joaquin let me help you with your research the link below will help you educate yourself on paramedic programs.
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/emstraumasystems/default.shtm
on the right hand side click on rules and policies and then scroll down to rule "157.32 EMS Education and course approval" there you will learn all about ems education. sorry your comments about buy a book and taking the test was extremely funny. please show me where you found that information.
Excellent rebuttal but you forgot the comma, son.
Joaquin go troll somewhere else. No one needs to your opinion
Thanks for the information. I concede the point but do have a question.
The post above said this was effecive in 2013. What was the policy before?
Where did I get the information? Well, let's just say there are at least two paramedics and one pharmacy technician in the valley who never took any "course." All they did was self study and took the state test. Take that however you want to.
Boy you sure are ignorant....."intrapments" ????
Adiel Garcia works for the San Benito school district as a teacher now. So is one of his colleagues from the paramedic program.
Post a Comment