St. Vincent's Prospera: Cold Food Violations Found - ND
Federal inspectors visited St. Vincent's, a Prospera Community, on April 3, 2025, and documented what residents on at least one wing had apparently known for some time: the food arriving at their doors was not hot. It was, in the inspectors' own words after tasting it themselves, lukewarm.
The inspection focused on a section of the facility called Place. At 11:52 a.m., a cart carrying meal trays arrived from the kitchen. A staff member pulled the last tray from the cart at 12:15 p.m. and delivered it to a resident. Twenty-three minutes had passed since the cart arrived. An inspector pulled a test tray at the same moment, carried it to a conference room, and checked every item on the plate.
Chicken: 104.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Zucchini: 98 degrees. Pasta: 94 degrees.
The inspectors tasted the food. All of them agreed. Lukewarm.
The numbers matter because food safety guidance for hot foods sets holding temperatures well above what inspectors recorded. At 94 degrees, pasta has lost most of its heat. At 104 degrees, chicken sits in a range that food safety experts consider a danger zone for bacterial growth. Whatever temperature these dishes left the kitchen, they were not hot when residents received them.
Residents had been saying so.
Two days before the test tray, on April 1, an inspector spoke with Resident 44 just before noon. The food, the resident said, was not hot. Across the hall or down the corridor, Resident 11 offered a more precise account. She told the inspector she had eaten in the dining room that day and the food was hot there. But when she eats in her room, she said, "by the time it gets to me it is cool."
That distinction is not a small one. A resident who can walk to a dining room and eat immediately gets a different meal than a resident who cannot. The cart ride, the wait, the delivery, the 23 minutes between the first tray and the last, all of it costs heat. Residents who depend on staff to bring food to their rooms are the ones absorbing that cost.
The inspection report notes that many residents were affected.
There is no indication in the report that this was a single bad day. Resident 44 and Resident 11 described conditions in the present tense, as ongoing facts of daily life at the facility. The test tray confirmed what they said.
St. Vincent's, located at 1021 North 26th Street in Bismarck, is operated under the Prospera Community brand. The deficiency was classified as causing minimal harm or the potential for actual harm. That classification sits at the lower end of the federal harm scale, but it does not mean nothing happened. It means inspectors found a real problem, documented it with thermometers and their own palates, and determined that residents were affected.
The facility was given the opportunity to submit a plan of correction. The inspection report directs anyone seeking information about that plan to contact the nursing home or the state survey agency directly.
What the report leaves behind is a straightforward picture: a cart arriving at a wing, trays sitting, time passing, and a resident explaining that the food is always cool by the time someone brings it to her. She was not wrong. The inspectors measured it.
For residents who cannot leave their rooms, mealtime is one of the fixed points of the day. Hot food is not a luxury in that context. It is one of the few things a care facility can reliably provide. At St. Vincent's last April, it was not being provided. The chicken was 104 degrees. The pasta was 94. And a resident had already told them.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for St Vincent's - A Prospera Community from 2025-04-03 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.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
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Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: October 28, 2026 · Our methodology
ST VINCENT'S - A PROSPERA COMMUNITY in BISMARCK, ND was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 3, 2025.
It was, in the inspectors' own words after tasting it themselves, lukewarm.
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.