Backpay Owed $41,139
(and counting)
Thank You for Reading My Story
I'm telling my story to make sure my sisters and brothers don't endure the year long (and counting) battle I've had to collect my first pension check. Even after being approved for a disability pension in January of 2024, I still haven't been paid a dime.
You'll have to bear with me a bit. I' m not a computer guy so it'll take a bit to build-out this website.
My Story
I suspect many of you are wondering why I went nuclear on the pension system. I have been very patient until this week and when the clock struck 365 days from my filing date, I decided I've had enough. I'm now on a mission to change the way OP&F handles disability pensions and change the process (hopefully some staff). You may be wondering whether this website and the mail campaign we're starting this week is going to work. I can tell you within 2 hours of telling Alicia Rue and Heather Jordan, the two employees handling my case, I was going to start this campaign, my application was hand walked to the calculation department for further processing. 87 days from the approval had passed. More on this later....
My unfortunate journey began in March of 2013. I was working-out at the fire house and while running on a treadmill, I had a misstep and broke my ankle. I had an osteochondral defect with an associated compression fracture. A very small injury, but surgery was required. I had surgery in June of the same year and was back to work in the fall. I developed avascular necrosis in the talus and a few years later, my ankle imploded. I now required major reconstructive surgery that included a complete talus prosthetic and serious recovery time. I put some pictures on the exhibits page for you to view. In total, I had four surgeries, two implanted stimulators and associated trials, over ten sympathetic spinal blocks and was opiates for seven years. Nothing can control the pain.
Throughout 28 years of being a fire fighter, I had developed some very serious mental health concerns that were quickly spiraling out of control and was being treated by a physician and counselors. I'm going to keep this part of my health confidential. It's just too raw and personal for me to put on the internet.... hopefully you understand.
In February of 2023 I hired an attorney to help me through this process. I will keep her name private because she is not part of this issue and I do not want to cause her any issues with OP&F in the future. If you need a good attorney for filing disability, please send me a message and I'll put you in contact with her. I'm very pleased with her performance.
After compiling about 800 pages of medical records and Dr recommendations, I filed for a disability pension on April 21st, 2023. This was one of the hardest days of my life. I had fought day after day to stay at work, but I just couldn't do it any longer.
Evaluations
Once the application had been filed, the emails for Dr. appointments started arriving at the lawyer's office. On Friday May, 19th I received an email with the following dates:
Dr. George Jewell, a neuropsychologist would perform a psychiatric evaluation on May 26th, 2023
Dr. Steven Wunder, a neurologist from Mayfield Clinic would perform a whole body exam on June 8th, 2023.
Mr. Robert Breslin would perform a vocational exam on August 2nd, 2023.
I received notice the board would be reviewing my application on September 27th, 2023 for a final determination of my application. Had the board heard my case in September like originally schedule, It would have been about 5 months, which is better than my attorney had expected. We planned for a six month period of exams and waiting periods considering my case was pretty straight forward. This is where all hell breaks loose in this process.
I received notice on Sept 20th, 2023 the first evaluation, completed on May 26th, 2023 was not good enough and I had to be rescheduled for another exam. Almost four months had passed and I just now found out the exam, although rated well, was not completed properly and I would have to wait until a new examiner could be found to complete the process.
An appointment was scheduled for October 16th, 2023 with Dr. Mary Hill, a psychologist.
In the meantime, I had run out of sick time at work and was forced to quit my job or be fired. To be frank it didn't matter either way, except I was able to negotiate the City of Sharonville paying for my COBRA healthcare until the end of the year (two months). At $2,200/month, I could not afford to pay for healthcare for my family without a paycheck so I chose to resign.
On November 6th, 2023, I was notified the board would be reviewing my application on January 24th, 2024!! The board combines the November and December meeting and since my application was not completed until November, I got bounced until the following year.
Contact
I've heard countless horror stories about OP&F. If you have a story you would like to share with me, please send me an email.
513-266-4481