In 2018, Bob and Corrine Frick donated $18 million to support the development of a hybrid operating room for complex heart procedures at Ohio State Heart and Vascular Center in Columbus — and earlier this year, Mr. Frick himself benefited from the gift when he underwent a life-saving angioplasty and defibrillator replacement, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
The donation funded the hybrid operating room, research programs and several positions at a center now named after the couple, the Bob and Corrine Frick Center for Heart Failure and Arrhythmia. The hybrid operating suite keeps a full open-heart surgery team and necessary equipment on hand in case something goes wrong in other heart procedures, eliminating the need to be transferred elsewhere and preserving critical time.
Mr. Frick, 73, has had a series of heart problems throughout his life, dating back to his college years and including a heart attack in 1988. In August, Mr. Frick underwent an 8.5-hour procedure at the center, where he received a new defibrillator and an angioplasty to open up a narrowed vein.
"It has all come full circle," Ms. Frick told The Columbus Dispatch. "It has not only helped others, but it ended up helping him too."
The Fricks made the donation after being impressed with previous cardiac care Mr. Frick received at OSU's heart hospital and asked physicians what they needed.