Hundreds Seek Help At OESC Tulsa Unemployment Events

Thursday, hundreds of people who are having trouble filing unemployment claims were back at Tulsa's Expo Square getting in-person help from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. 

Chief of Veteran Services for OESC said they're helping veterans with unemployment claims and they are pointing them in the right direction to hopefully find them a job. 

"A lot of them do not know that they have a priority of service and that again we are here to kind of help and assist them and we're not going to turn them away we're going to make sure that we get them taken care of," said John Harris, Chief of Veteran Services for OESC. 

Harris said in the last two days he's helped more than 50 veterans file for unemployment. He said the help for veterans doesn't stop there. 

"It's a way to subsidize and again we just want to make sure that those who are looking for employment we can help them and then while they're waiting we can help get the process for them tightened," said Harris. 

Harris said OESC was at Expo Square to help anyone who lost their job during the COVID pandemic. People like Barbara Landreth who may be filing for unemployment for the first time.​ 

"Never in my wildest dreams. In fact when COVID started I was very thankful that I was a healthcare provider because my thought was we're in a medical crisis we will need all hands on board," said Landreth. 

Landreth is a nurse practitioner and said the opposite happened, and now she's out of work. 

"Here our patient volume dropped; I was seeing 80 patients a day before COVID. As soon as it started, it dropped to 10-15 patients a day," said Landreth. 

OESC is going to be back at Expo Square next week for anyone still needing assistance filing their unemployment claims. Tickets will be handed out on Tuesday between 1:00 - 6:00 p.m. Then people will meet with staff Wednesday and Thursday.