‘I don’t believe I am the only one’
Donald Gallick Sr. was a man called hard-working. He was a man called helpful. He was also a man called “Dad” by his son, Donald.
“Always willing to do what needed to be done,” the younger Donald says of his dad. “He appreciated sports, a Buckeye fan…a hard worker, faced any challenge, very easy to talk to.”
But as he got older, Donald Gallick Sr. began having health issues. He suffered a minor stroke and it became difficult for him to drive or walk.
“One day, I came over, and he had tripped on a chair,” said the younger Donald, a lawyer who deals with healthcare fraud. “And I found him lying on the ground for the better part of a day.”
Now, the younger Donald can’t stop wondering, ‘What if?’, when it comes to whether or not his dad received the best care while he was in Falling Water Healthcare Center in Strongsville in 2013. He questioned how his father was treated there, but believes he didn’t get the answers he needed.
“I want to know, is this being treated?” he questioned. “What is actually the diagnosis? Is he going to walk again?”
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Donald Gallick Sr. passed away at another facility in 2014.
“…This was my experience,” he said. “And I don’t believe I am the only one.”
The Gallicks’ story is one of many, as numerous nursing homes in Northeast Ohio have racked up thousands in fines and low ratings by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
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How some Ohio nursing homes are putting the lives of society's most vulnerable at risk
