License Revoked for North Brunswick Nurse

North Brunswick, NJ - The state Board of Nursing has revoked the licenses of three nurses, including a woman from North Brunswick, after discovering that they lied about having nursing degrees or made other false statements, New Jersey's Attorney General announced Monday.

Registered nurse Husainatu Bah of North Brunswick was charged, along with Swanzybella Pimpong of Newark, Vincentia Amankwah of Cliffwood and Ivelyse Belony of Irvington. They all claimed they were graduates of Ohio American Health Care (OAHC), a now-defunct Ohio nursing school closed down by the state of Ohio for numerous violations. The four presented credentials from OAHC in applying for, or seeking renewals, of their nursing licenses here in New Jersey, the state said.

In reality, Amankwah, Bah, and Belony never received RN degrees from OAHC or any other school, the state AG said.

A check of Bah’s records revealed that in 2013 she lied on her RN license application that she had completed a course of professional nursing study at OAHC, and had been issued an RN diploma from the school, the New Jersey Board of Nursing determined. The diploma Bah submitted with her application had been obtained by fraud. The investigation further revealed that Bah had failed to prove she had satisfied her continuing education obligations for the 2009-2011 Licensed Practical Nurse license renewal cycle, despite saying she did on her license renewal form.

To settle the allegations against her, Bah entered into a Consent Order with the state Nursing Board in December 2015, agreeing to a revocation of her RN license. She also agreed to pay a $1,000 civil penalty and agreed that her LPN license would be suspended for a period of two years or until she submits documentation demonstrating that she has satisfied all of her continuing education requirements, whichever is longer.

Belony, the Irvington nurse, purchased a fake OAHC diploma and transcript for $15,000, the state said.

Pimpong, the Newark woman, had attended OAHC and received an RN degree from the school, but she lied to the Board about her professional licensure history, including a misrepresentation that she had never before been licensed as a nurse in Ohio, and also lied about her work history, including previous disciplinary actions from two nursing employers. The Board’s investigation into Pimpong also revealed serious concerns about the quality of the nursing education that she received at OAHC.

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