Former Woodstock firefighter awarded pension for PTSD diagnosis linked to duty, first in department’s history

When a therapist first suggested Ryan Mains might have post-traumatic stress disorder in 2016, the former Woodstock Fire/Rescue District firefighter was in denial.

“I had some choice words for my therapist when she told me that. I disagreed vehemently with my diagnosis. I let her know that,” Mains, now 41, said Wednesday.

It took three more years working in the fire service for the condition to more seriously impact Mains. In spring 2019, he entered the International Association of Firefighters Center for Excellence facility in Maryland for a monthlong in-patient stay to help treat his PTSD.

He came back to work, but struggled again as he couldn’t escape the dread that he might have to respond to or witness another fatal incident and try to save another person’s life with no success.

“The thought of having to deal with another dead body was so crushing for me that I couldn’t get out of bed and couldn’t imagine going to work. It felt awful and dark and heavy,” Mains said. “Finally I just couldn’t do that anymore. I went in and talked to my therapist in October of 2019. She said, ‘You’re not fit for duty. You can’t go back. This is too detrimental for you.’ That was a hard pill to swallow.”

He served the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District for 14 years and was granted a pension Tuesday in a unanimous Woodstock Fire/Rescue District pension board decision that will provide him 65% of his previous salary because of the disability from PTSD he developed in the fire service.

Now, he wants his story to serve as a motivating force for other first responders wrestling with their mental health to seek treatment and talk about their issues.

“People should know that you don’t have to just suck it up and deal with it until you can’t anymore,” Mains said. “There are options for you, and if it’s so significant that you can’t work anymore, pensioning off the job is an option.”

Mains’ case was the first pension application related to a diagnosis of a mental health condition like PTSD processed by the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District, said Lt. Matt Hedges, who sits on the district’s Pension Board.

In fact, Illinois firefighters diagnosed with PTSD caused by the job have only consistently started to make pension applications in the last five to seven years, said Chuck Sullivan, the president of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, a statewide union.

But such pension application cases, and awards in them, remain relatively rare in Illinois, he said.

“It certainly has [changed],” Sullivan said. “Firefighting in the 1960s and ’70s and ’80s, we’re a very humble group and you swallowed your emotions. That’s just how we were taught either as a child or once you get into this profession.”

Tom Radja, a Naperville-based police and firefighter pension lawyer who represented Mains in his case, said the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District initially filed a petition to intervene in Mains’ case before the board, which could have allowed the district to present arguments that could have undermined his application.

The district withdrew that petition after reaching a settlement agreement with Mains, the details of which could not be disclosed because they are subject to a confidentiality agreement, Radja said.

“I would say nine times out of 10, the municipality or fire district does seek intervention, and I think that’s where the lack of education or understanding is on the part of districts. I think it’s getting better, but there is a long way to go in them treating these claims a little more fairly,” Radja said of pension applications for mental health injuries. “In large part, it is due to a lack of understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder and the causes of it.”

Local governments sometimes try to push back on disability pension applications because state law says health care premiums must be covered for former workers who suffered injuries in the line of duty. That can be costly, Radja said.

“I think they look at these guys as a line item on a budget,” he said.

Robert Kristensen, a Woodstock Fire/Rescue District trustee who also sits on the pension board, declined to comment on the decision of district officials to not intervene in the case.

Kristensen, who is elected to her role on the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District’s Board of Trustees, was absent from Tuesday’s pension board decision in Mains’ favor.

“I think a change may be emerging, not specifically in the pension realm, but in the fire service in general,” Hedges said. “The mental health and wellness has been focused on more because the fire service is always experiencing the humanity of the job. At this point we’re realizing just how intensely that affects first responders.”

The Woodstock Career Firefighters Local 4813 chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters union applauded the decision in Mains’ favor.

“This is still blazing a new trail,” said Scott Wessel, president of the local union chapter.

Mains said he felt supported by the union every step of the way during what became a more than yearlong process to obtain the pension. It included evaluations by multiple medical professionals independently selected who concluded his PTSD was linked to his firefighting duties.

“I understand why there are so many hoops, but it’s a very difficult and arduous process. At each step, the more I thought I need to keep going with this process, because there are going to be more people that this happens to. I’m certain there are people that left the job that should have gotten the pension but didn’t apply,” Mains said.

And while Mains hopes his story opens the door to more firefighters dealing with mental trauma they experience on the job before it develops into a condition that requires their departure from the profession, he and Hedges hesitate to consider it precedent setting.

That’s because disability pension applications are considered on individual bases, and the officials deciding their fates can change between cases.

“My role on the pension board is to be a fair and impartial, prudent person. I’m not going to cast judgement on breaking barriers, advocating for change one way or another,” Hedges said.