CLEVELAND — Employees and residents of a local nursing home say the new owners are not fulfilling their responsibilities. News 5 Investigators started hearing of serious complaints about Beachwood’s Menorah Park nursing complex, now called King David Healthcare Center.
“Terrible! I mean it was absolutely unbelievable. I’ve never had such a bad experience,” said Nate Berger, 84.
“I have multiple abnormalities,” Berger said as he described his legs and left arm are nearly totally paralyzed. The medicines he was taking caused an allergic reaction. So, after getting treatment in the hospital, he was transferred to King David.
He told us he started having problems there immediately. He said he was there for about a day during the May 4 weekend. As part of an official complaint to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the family said it reported that when Berger hit the call button in his room to alert staff he needed help, there were issues. “You push it. You have no idea if it rang in any place and it must have been at least an hour until somebody came,” said Berger.
It’s the kind of treatment that others with loved ones at King David are speaking publicly about, including at a recent Beachwood City Council meeting. “I need to know that when mom pushes her button and she needs to go to the bathroom, she’s not going to wait two hours,” said Karen Rosenblum while she addressed council earlier this month.
News 5 Investigators found Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) and Ohio Department of Health inspection reports since Wigg Realty LLC bought Menorah Park in December 2023. The reports show “the facility failed to ensure staff secured (residents’) medications…”; “the facility failed to ensure assessments were accurately completed…”; it “failed to ensure medical records were accurate and complete” and more.
“The staffing is not the same that they’re used to,” said union representative Samara Knight from SEIU District 1199, who also spoke out against new ownership during that city council meeting. “It’s a constant turnover (of employees) and there’s short staffing as well,” she told council members.
The mounting issues even prompted State Senator Kent Smith to send a letter to the President of King David asking owners to “address these concerns” and explain what “steps they are taking to correct them.”
Berger called himself a brittle diabetic. The family said its complaint to ODH includes problems with Berger’s blood sugar levels.
He told us the last straw before he checked himself out of King David was a breakfast given to him. He showed us pictures of a Danish pastry, cream of wheat, and a bag of brown sugar. “The worst possible things,” he said. “There was no real patient care.”
We have called and emailed King David management several times, and it has ignored all of our requests for interviews and information.
One other thing you should know about Berger is that he’s a medical doctor himself, a former dean of a local medical school, and a prominent player in a local cancer center. He told us he knew what kind of treatment should be given and that he just didn’t get it.
“People in Cleveland deserve a lot better,” said Berger. “We deserve much better rehabilitation services.”
