May 24, 2023 Frisco Assistant Fire Chief Cameron Kraemer says he was fired when he requested a leave-of-absence extension for post-traumatic stress.
By Susan McFarland Source The Dallas Morning News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Cameron Kraemer had the patience of Job.
In work settings, his temperament rivaled the biblical prophet who went through plenty of trauma but was undeterred.
In August after two major structure fires and a mayday call, Kraemer, who has worked as a firefighter for the city of Frisco for 27 years, lost control and yelled at employees. The next day, a firefighter was severely injured when a fire truck backed up and pinned him against a wall.
Kraemer said as he was cleaning up blood and excretions from the event, he began crying uncontrollably, so he went home.
He has been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder since 2020, and has been getting medical help, he told The Dallas Morning News.
On May 1, Frisco fired him while he was in the midst of a workers’ compensation appeal for PTSD.
Kraemer said the city does not believe the PTSD is work-related.
“I’m sure most of you wouldn’t understand the impact of listening to a mom cry from the second story because her kid is hanging in the closet in the other room. I’m sure most of you wouldn’t understand what it feels like to have a child handed to you, limp, from being found in the bathtub. I’m sure that most of you don’t understand what it’s like to have multiple near-death experiences in structure fires. These things add up,” Kraemer told the Frisco City Council on May 2 during the public comment opportunity.
Frisco City Manager Wes Pierson read from a prepared statement afterward, saying the city’s actions were in compliance with its policies, and with state and federal laws and regulations.
“Employees are required to provide specific medical documentation and evidence that meets the legal requirements that they qualify for particular leave and other benefits,” Pierson said. “The laws and regulations are very specific to ensure all claims are evaluated consistently and fairly. A claim may be denied if sufficient medical documentation and evidence is not provided.”
Kraemer, 46, took a medical leave-of-absence in August. He said he is under a doctor’s care and has provided the city with documentation. He said he is still healing and needs more time off, so he requested an additional 30-day extension.
“Since you are unable to return to work with or without reasonable accommodations by May 1, 2023, the city has no option but to terminate your employment,” Kraemer’s termination letter states.
The letter also stated his absence is “compromising the operations of the city of Frisco Fire Department and granting continued accommodations of additional leave would cause an undue burden and hardship on the department and the city, placing the safety of the community and the department at risk.”
Kraemer said he tried his best to push through for years.
“When it comes to mental illness, the higher you are on the chart, the harder it is to bring it up because you’re supposed to be this icon as it relates to the operation,” Kraemer said. “And so you try and be Superman in the equation as it relates to pushing through, but then all the people around you begin to suffer because your tank is full, it’s overflowing and relief valves have to start going off. And in my particular case, I bottled up a lot of stuff over time and I ran out of room to hold it.”
About 30% of first responders suffer from mental health disorders, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, according to research by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The 2018 SAMHSA study about suicidality, firefighters were reported to have higher attempt and ideation rates than the general population.
Repeated exposure to traumatic situations increases firefighters’ vulnerability for developing posttraumatic stress disorder with prevalence ranging from 16% to 22%, which is much higher than that of the general population, according to a 2019 study published on ScienceDirect.com.
Dena Ali, executive director for North Carolina first responder peer support, said diagnosing post-traumatic stress syndrome is difficult, and requires a person to have symptoms that impact their day-to-day abilities to perform.
Ali said post-traumatic stress syndrome differs from post-traumatic stress, which is something all people are susceptible to and a normal response to an abnormal situation. In the latter, 80% recover naturally.
“PTSD is like back pain, it’s hard to prove the true cause. Only the person suffering knows the truth of their cause,” Ali said. “However, PTSD does not occur in a vacuum. When PTSD occurs it is generally a disorder of recovery. When people lack support or resources to practice self-care, they are more likely to suffer from PTSD.”
Kraemer said maintaining the perception of a strong, healthy and patient leader was hard to do going through this illness.
“The reality is, I was dying on the inside trying to maintain that mantra,” he said. “And my family was dying in the process, too, because I would literally take it home as it relates to my inability to have that patience anywhere else.”
With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney read a proclamation during the May 16 City Council meeting.
“The stigma around mental health and treatment has long existed, even though this has started to change. Still, people hesitate to seek help or even talk about it with their loved ones for fear of being judged and facing unnecessary backlash. Simple logic dictates that if we are hurt anywhere, we must seek treatment to get better,” Cheney said.
Frisco Firefighters Association President Matthew Sapp said it was ironic the city would fire an employee asking for more time to heal from a mental illness on May 1, the start of Mental Health Awareness Month.
“The fact that we send an email to an individual who put 27 years into the city and told him he was terminated and never gave him a phone call is highly inappropriate. The (termination) letter states this is causing issues, and we have to provide services to the citizens,” Sapp told City Council May 2. “To my knowledge, we have not failed in our duty to serve our citizens. I believe our times are still good.”
Sapp said, “Make no mistake, this isn’t just about chief Kraemer, this is about the next guy.”
“It’s about my one-year guy who has seen two CPRs and a suicide in the last two weeks,” Sapp said. “What happens when he has PTSD and he has 200 hours of sick time? When he’s out of time, are we getting rid of him?
“(Kraemer) is not receiving a paycheck, so why the rush? Because if it’s just to add an assistant chief, we’ve already got somebody in his place doing that,” Sapp said. “This is really bothersome that we made this decision so abruptly and didn’t allow the individual to go through the process of the workers’ comp appeal.”
City officials, in an emailed response to The News, said they can fire an employee, even if that person has a doctor’s note saying they are not ready to return to work, if the person has exhausted all eligible job protected leave provided by law and the city of Frisco policy, and an accommodation cannot be made according to the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act.
Terminating an employee during the middle of a worker’s compensation appeal is handled on a case-by-case basis, according to the email.
“The bottom line in all of this is the city has abandoned me,” Kraemer said.
Kraemer’s attorney, who is hired by the Fire Fighters Association, declined to comment for this story.
Kraemer said his plans going forward are to continue to heal so he can get back to work in fire service. His hopes are that nobody else will suffer the humiliation from their employer like he has or worse, they will be afraid to seek help and not live through it.
“What you really want to do is hide from it, and that’s what I caught myself doing,” he said. “Then I went to my doctor and said, ‘I’m trying to be proactive about this.’ And I quickly realized I was being way, way reactive. What I thought was proactive would have been a long time ago,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot in the process. But I’ve also learned how vulnerable I was, and I still am, but I’m getting better.”