Southfield Wellness Community: Bathing Failures Found - IA
Inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services visited the facility on March 3, 2025, and documented what staff described in their own words: bathing at this facility was a problem, and everyone knew it.
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See the Derila PillowThe registered nurse who spoke with inspectors first, identified in the report as Staff G, said she didn't know where bathing was documented except in the computer. When asked who was responsible for giving baths when no bath aide was scheduled, she referred the question to her director of nursing. She didn't have an answer.
The director of nursing had one. She described the bath aide position as "not essential." When the facility was short-staffed, which happened often enough that the facility was bringing in agency workers, bath aides were pulled from bathing duty and sent to work the floor as CNAs. The expectation, the director said, was that CNAs would pick up the baths. When inspectors asked whether there were concerns about getting baths done, the director said yes, they had a problem sometimes.
A second registered nurse, Staff H, filled in more of the picture. The facility tried to schedule two bath aides each day, one for the front of the building and one for the back. When those aides got pulled to the floor, baths didn't happen. Staff tried to work in the missed ones, but there were between seven and twelve baths scheduled every day, and fitting extra baths into an already full load was hard. Usually, if a resident missed a scheduled bath, Staff H said, the bath simply wasn't done again until the next scheduled bath day. There was no makeup. There was no follow-up. The missed bath was gone.
For the resident identified in the report as Resident 24, scheduled for baths on Mondays and Thursdays, the clinical record captured only two baths. The record captured nothing else. No one had documented an offer to bathe the resident. No one had documented a refusal. No one had documented any attempt.
The director of nursing told inspectors she expected staff to offer baths at least twice a week, and if a resident refused, staff were supposed to try again the same day and document the refusal in the progress notes. None of that appeared in Resident 24's record. The documentation that the director described as expected simply wasn't there.
The administrator's explanation, delivered at 3:11 in the afternoon on the day of the inspection, was brief. The facility, he said, did not have a bathing policy. They followed the standard of care.
What the standard of care looked like in practice, according to the staff who worked there, was bath aides reassigned to other duties, CNAs absorbing a workload that already had no room in it, and residents who missed their scheduled bath waiting until the next one came around on the calendar, however many days away that might be.
Inspectors classified the violation as causing minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and noted it affected some residents. The clinical record for Resident 24 offered no evidence that anyone had tried.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Southfield Wellness Community from 2025-03-03 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
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Last verified: November 14, 2026 · Our methodology
Southfield Wellness Community in Webster City, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 3, 2025.
When asked who was responsible for giving baths when no bath aide was scheduled, she referred the question to her director of nursing.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.