Pembroke’s Fred Leary had been the town’s health agent for 14 years before he was let go this past October.

Leary had been on sick leave since November of 2009. when asked about Leary’s departure Town Administrator Ed Thorne would not elaborate, only saying that Leary no longer was an employee.

Leary has been the health agent for the town since 1996 and served in some capacity on the Board of Health since 1993.

According to Leary, he was let go because he had used up his sick time even though his contract doesn’t run out until July of next year. He also said that officials justified the decision because Leary had not updated them on his condition.

the problem, he said, was that it took almost a year for Leary to be correctly diagnosed with both Lyme disease and Mercury poisoning.

“the whole time I was sending letters to the town to update them on what was going on,” he said.

Leary said in the course of just a few months he visited 10 different doctors across five hospitals.

“I was having problems with my legs, arms and hands,” he said. “Neurologically they couldn’t find anything wrong with me.”

Finally, after watching a program about Lyme disease on TV, his aunt living in New Hampshire noticed similarities in the symptoms Leary was showing.

“I went to a specialist in Manchester and they tested me,” he said. “they send those results to California for examination and in August they came back and told me I had an advanced form of Lyme.”

According to documents, Leary notified the town several times about the misdiagnosis and the follow up testing for Lyme disease.

During this time, Leary said, he was also being tested for a high level of Mercury in his blood.

in both cases, he said, the two ailments could possibly attributed to his work as a health agent in Pembroke.

“I’m not a hiker so it’s more than likely I was bitten on the job, but that’s hard to prove,” he said. “the mercury is another story.”

According to Leary, a box of broken thermometers could be the cause for the mercury in his system.

“we had a collection box at the office and it sat near my desk for about 10 years,” he said. “I think it was emptied once a year and although the thermometers were wrapped in plastic, they could still give off gases, which I later found out.”

in 17 years, Leary said, he never used any sick time. So, when he got sick towards the end of last year, he didn’t think it would be a problem.

“I used up all my sick time, comp time and vacation that I had accrued through the years because I just wasn’t able to function,” he said. “only within the past couple months have I been able to get up and walk around a little bit.”

Towards the start of September, Leary said, he received a letter from the town saying that he wasn’t eligible to receive any more sick time.

“I always wanted to get better, no one wants to stay sick,” he said. “in that letter there was no mention of termination or anything.”

A month later, he said, Leary was notified that he would have to attend a hearing about whether he’d be able to keep his job.

at that time, Leary was told that he hadn’t kept the town properly informed on his condition.