To avoid hiring someone with PTSD because of the jobs they took to save lives, is reprehensible, as well as stupid.

UPDATE

Civilian woman with PTSD hired then fired because of PTSD

City of Fargo approves settlement agreement in discrimination suit filed by former firefighter

KFGO News
by Don Haney
Tuesday, January 14, 2020

He claimed in his federal lawsuit, his disability, post-traumatic stress disorder, was revealed during one of his appeals to the city and he was unable to find a permanent job after that information was made public.

Scott Kelsh Photo: KFGO News

FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) - A settlement agreement has been approved on a unanimous vote by the Fargo City Commission, awarding a former Fargo firefighter and state lawmaker $63,000 in a discrimination lawsuit.
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Why are employers still avoiding the elephant in the room?

Facts seem to be missing in the decision to hire people known to have PTSD. In the case of Scott Kelsh, his PTSD was known, although not by his own decision. Yet, with over 7 million Americans with PTSD, companies do not know if the person they are interviewing...or already working for them, have PTSD or not.

To avoid hiring someone with PTSD is impossible. To avoid hiring someone with PTSD because of the jobs they took to save lives, is reprehensible, as well as stupid.

Imagine having someone who proved they know what hard work is. Imagine them being so mission focused they understood the ramifications of being distracted. Imagine turning someone like that away, to hire someone you assume is fine and then discover they have PTSD too.

Dying Vietnam Veteran Gets Last Wish For Daughter

Fargo veteran's last wish to walk daughter down the aisle comes true 
Forum News Service
By Emily Welker
Jan 16, 2016

That's where Wishes on Wings came in. The Fargo Veterans Affairs organization has been using donations to fund wishes for veterans with life-limiting or terminal illness for roughly the past decade.

Eldon Frye walks his daughter Teah Frye Moncada down the aisle at her wedding Jan. 4 at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fargo. Frye died four days later on Jan. 8. (Special to the Forum News Service)

FARGO - He'd made it through a year in Vietnam, 35 years of marriage and three children, but with just one month to go before his daughter's Feb. 6 wedding, it was becoming clear Eldon Frye wasn't going to make it down the aisle with her.

It had always been an important milestone to both of them, his daughter said. Teah Frye Moncada recalls all the times they'd talked about it, from when she was a little girl through all the ball games they'd attended and the shared hunting and fishing trips in western North Dakota.

"I'm his baby girl. I'm his only girl," she said. "It's always been our dream."

In October, when Eldon was hospitalized with lung cancer, he sat his daughter's boyfriend of a year and a half on his hospital bed, looked him in the eye, and told him he had one wish: He wanted to walk Teah down the aisle.

Aaron proposed shortly thereafter and the couple set the date for a February wedding at First Lutheran Church in downtown Fargo.

"He sees how Aaron looks at me," she said softly. "And how much he loves me."

But as anyone knows who's ever dealt with cancer, the hope sometimes runs out faster than the wishes.
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GF VA clinic response 'overwhelming'

GF VA clinic response 'overwhelming'
A Veterans Administration official says more than 1,000 military veterans already have filed paperwork to switch their care to Grand Forks from other VA facilities, including the VA Medical Center in Fargo and the VA Clinic in Grafton.
By: Kevin Bonham, Grand Forks Herald


The new Veterans Administration Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Grand Forks is a hit.


Open only a week, more than 1,000 military veterans already have filed paperwork to switch their care to Grand Forks from other VA facilities, including the VA Medical Center in Fargo and the VA Clinic in Grafton, according to Peggy Wheelden, Fargo VA Medical Center public affairs officer.
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http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/133798/

North Dakota National Guardsmen Welcome Sight In Fargo

Guardsmen a welcome sight in ND flood fight

By Patrick Condon - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Apr 4, 2009 15:57:09 EDT

FARGO, N.D. — Staff Sgt. Matthew Mitzel has patrolled the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq, and now he’s patrolled the Red River in Fargo.

“I’ll take Fargo any day,” said Mitzel, a North Dakota National Guard member and veteran of two tours in Iraq now leading a quick-response rescue team in flood-soaked Fargo.

“It’s the first time in my career I’m not fighting with Iraqi terrorists. I can just help North Dakotans fight Mother Nature. I’m fighting side by side with the people I’m protecting.”

National Guard soldiers were a huge presence in Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., after the Red River rose to a threatening level against the miles of protective dikes. As the water receded, the Minnesota Guard ended its mission around Moorhead on Friday, but the North Dakota Guard kept about 1,200 soldiers on its side of the river.
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Guardsmen a welcome sight in ND flood fight

Military sends help as uncertainty floods Fargo

Military sends help as uncertainty floods Fargo
U.S. military forces and 15 helicopters were ordered Friday night to Fargo, North Dakota, to assist the state as it prepares for possible historic flooding, a U.S. military official told CNN. The swollen Red River broke a 112-year-old flood record earlier, and Fargo was winding down a massive sandbagging effort. "If we're going to go down, we're going to go down swinging," the mayor said. full story

Welcome home veteran events to be held in Fargo

Sep 19, 2008 - 04:05:18 CDT
Welcome home veteran events to be held
The Fargo Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Dakotas Regional Office, in conjunction with the Three Affiliated Tribes and several veteran service organizations, will be sponsoring veterans events at the Fort Berthold Reservation, Four Bears Lodge, 202 Frontage Road, New Town. The events will be held on Oct. 8-9 from 8:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. All veterans are welcome to attend.

The veterans events include a Welcome Home Event, Women's Health and Wellness program, and Compensation and Informational Fair. The Welcome Home event will include baseline medical exams and evaluations both days. The Women's Health and Wellness program will be presented for female veterans Oct. 8, between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration begins at 9 a.m., and a luncheon will be provided for this event. Pre-registration is required. For questions, contact Linda Marquart, Women Veteran Program Manager, at 701-239-3700 ext. 3786.
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Fargo VA has 13% patient increase in a year

Fargo VA serves more vets in outreach clinics

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 18, 2008 16:58:18 EST

FARGO, N.D. — The Veterans Affairs Medical Center here is serving an additional 2,400 veterans with new outreach clinics, the agency says.

VA said it has had a 13 percent increase in patient visits over the past year as soldiers return from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Fargo VA is to be an outpatient center to treat brain trauma victims. It’s opened new clinics in Devils Lake and Bemidji, Minn.

“We’re really working with our community partnerships,” said Robert McDivitt, the center’s director.

Paula Conard, who manages the Veterans Service Center, which helps vets obtain benefits, said improvements have been made in the past two years to better the speed of processing claims. Currently, 1,400 claims are pending, with the average decision time running about 90 days, she said.

“We’ve made great strides in processing claims,” she said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_fargova_080118/

One more lesson on the need for clinics and veteran's centers to open up and open fast across the country.