North Ridge Health and Rehab: Call Light Failure - MN
That was March 4. The call light had been clipped to his bedding, a small red button resting near a hand he could not open and a hand locked inside a restraint mitt. He had a tracheostomy, a surgical hole in his windpipe, which meant he could not simply call out to passing staff. His left hand was contracted, held in a palm protector. His right hand was inserted into a netting-covered white pillow that tightened around his wrist. The button required a press he was physically incapable of making.
The inspectors came back the next morning.
On March 5, at 8:53 a.m., the resident at North Ridge Health and Rehab was in the same position, the same call light clipped to the same sheets. A registered nurse, identified in inspection records as RN-J, was present. She confirmed the resident had the mental capacity to use a call light. She confirmed he could not use the one he had. She said she was going to get him a soft-touch call light, a device designed for residents who cannot press a standard button, one that responds to the lightest contact.
She had not gotten it yet.
The following day, March 6, RN-J told inspectors what had happened. The resident had used a soft-touch call light before. Then he was hospitalized and readmitted in January 2025 to a different room. When he came back, nobody switched out the call light. "It had been an oversight," she said.
The oversight had lasted at least five weeks by the time inspectors arrived.
His care plan, written in May 2024, noted that he had a communication problem related to the tracheostomy and that his call light was to be kept within reach. It did not specify what kind of call light he needed. A September 2024 update to the care plan noted the restraint mitt on his right hand and the left-sided weakness. The combination of those two facts, a hand that cannot open and a hand enclosed in a mitt, made a standard button call light useless. The care plan did not address this.
Inspectors observed the resident across three consecutive days, March 3, 4, and 5. Each time, the call light with the small red button was there. Each time, it was out of reach in any meaningful sense: clipped to bedding, hanging off the side rail, positioned near hands that could not use it.
What a man with a tracheostomy does when he needs a nurse and cannot press a button and cannot call out is not described in the inspection report. The report does not say how long he waited between staff visits, or what happened on the nights between those three observation days, or whether he was ever left for hours without a way to signal anyone.
The inspection, conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, cited the facility for failing to ensure a call light that accommodated the resident's needs, or an acceptable alternative, was provided. The violation was rated at the level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm.
North Ridge Health and Rehab is located at 5430 Boone Avenue North in New Hope.
The soft-touch call light, the one the resident used before his hospitalization, the one a nurse said she was going to retrieve on the morning of March 5, had been sitting somewhere in the building the entire time.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for North Ridge Health and Rehab from 2025-03-07 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 10, 2026 · Our methodology
NORTH RIDGE HEALTH AND REHAB in NEW HOPE, MN was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 7, 2025.
The call light had been clipped to his bedding, a small red button resting near a hand he could not open and a hand locked inside a restraint mitt.
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.