T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Woodsfield Mayor Michael Ricer, second from left, shakes hands with state Sen. Frank Hoagland following an open meeting Friday at the Monroe County Public Library. Hoagland spoke with local residents and elected officials about upcoming legislation.

WOODSFIELD — A dozen concerned residents and local elected officials came together to receive legislative updates from state Sen. Frank Hoagland on Friday morning.

Roughly every six months, Hoagland, R-Mingo Junction, attempts to meet with residents and elected officials in his district in order to create an open dialogue with the community. This is a chance for Hoagland to update residents about legislation pending in the Ohio Senate. Additionally, the town hall-style meetings allow residents to speak with the senator and voice their concerns and opinions. Hoagland discussed first responder services, jobs, roadways and transportation at the open meeting Friday at the Monroe County Public Library in Woodsfield.

Hoagland opened the meeting by discussing some of the legislation he is working toward. He first spoke at length about the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation budgets and potential funding for first responders and members of law enforcement who are suffering with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

“That’s become a huge topic of discussion. Everyone is trying to figure out how do we make that happen. (It is) one of the issues I personally see, because our office was able to get a piece of legislation in the budget for veterans that have PTSD and drug addiction,” he said.

Hoagland said he grew up in a military family and has experienced PTSD first hand.

“I think it has made me who I am today,” he said.

Hoagland spent 30 years as a U.S. Navy Seal and participated in multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“My real question is, how do we really diagnose PTSD? … How do we really say ‘Yes, you have PTSD; no, you don’t have PTSD?'” he said.

It’s not like when you break a bone and receive an X-ray to confirm, Hoagland said.

“We’re trying to get to that point. That’s why we were able to get some of the funding in the budget. … There’s a program out there now called TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation). My last buddy that called me up and said he was going to commit suicide, just happened a few months ago, we sent him to Texas because Ohio doesn’t have the ability, the VA system,” he said.

TMS is an alternative treatment for medication-resistant depression and co-occurring PTSD. Hoagland said he wants to ensure veterans are “fixed” and also collect data during the process so that similar patients can experience similar effective treatment.

“What I’m trying to do is … law enforcement and first responders, we want to bring into this program so we can start getting the law enforcement and first responders the EEG (electroencephalogram) and start getting that same help,” Hoagland said.

An electroencephalogram is a test used to evaluate the electrical activity in the brain, he said. However, just because a person suffers with PTSD does not make them nonfunctional, Hoagland added.

“When I wake up in the morning, I want to have a positive impact on wherever I’m at. I think anyone else that has the same issues (feels the same way). You’ve got to have relevancy,” Hoagland said.

Woodsfield Mayor Michael Ricer said it took 30 years before he was diagnosed with PTSD and received the proper treatment. Ricer is a Vietnam veteran.

“It took so long for them to just diagnose what exactly was wrong with me, and I had a really rough time. … They do help. The VA is very good about it, but you’ve got to be able to face that problem because, if you don’t, it’ll eat you up,” Ricer said.

Hoagland said he wants to ensure that law enforcement and first responders receive the proper treatment as well.

“They can take the lessons learned through the VA and through the decades of the veterans doing what they’ve done and apply it right now so we can start seeing success faster than what was happening to us and our veterans,” he said.

Hoagland then discussed training programs offered by JobsOhio and preparing young people to enter into the workforce.

“I believe when you graduate high school you should have the ability to do something,” he said.

Hoagland said that while collecting unemployment, many young people are turning in resumes to companies but declining job offers they receive. He said employers are having a difficult time figuring out where they are going to get employees.

“I went to BWC and I went to employers that have stack of resumes from employees who are not working and receiving unemployment. If you offer that individual a job and they turn you down, there should be repercussions for that,” he said.

In regards to the state transportation budget, taxes on gas have been raised, Hoagland confirmed.

“My focus, and I’m a firm believer of all the stuff I’ve done throughout my career, you have to have communication to be successful. We need to have the ability to navigate to the location and have the ability to communicate from that location,” he said.

Hoagland said there is now enough money in the budget to not only fix roads, but also to rebuild roads.

“We’ve got more slips on this side of the state than any other place in the state,” he noted.

He said he carried two photographs around with him in Columbus — one photo was of a large hole where an improvised explosive device went off in Iraq, while the other photo was of a road in Monroe County that had collapsed.

“What’s the difference?” Hoagland asked, saying that the only difference in the photographs is that someone was killed as a result of the IED.

“The road that we have on our hillside around here, we may not have killed anyone yet, but imagine your kids being law enforcement officers, bus drivers or you driving to and from work every morning and having to negotiate that obstacle because that road is falling off the hillside,” he said.

Hoagland said the state Senate was able to secure $25 million to go toward slip repairs in the district.

Hoagland reiterated that the roads must be fixed and expanded.

A resident who identified himself only as Bill thanked the senator for coming to meet with the residents of Monroe County.

“It means a lot to us to have our representatives and elected officials come to where we are and to see how we live, and I think it provides a perspective for folks serving us in Columbus and Washington (D.C.) and I appreciate your commitment,” he said.