Van Duyn Center: Hand Hygiene Failures in Kitchen - NY
That detail emerged during a state inspection in April. It turned out to be the smallest part of the problem.
The Director of Dietary Services told inspectors that eight of the nine handwashing sinks available to kitchen and kitchenette staff were not properly equipped at the time of the inspection. The sinks were supposed to have hot water, soap, and paper towels. Most did not.
The dietary aide, identified in inspection records as Dietary Aide 156, described what happened on April 8 during an interview that afternoon. They had gone to wash their hands in the kitchenette sink before serving food, which they said they understood was important. There were no paper towels. A washcloth was there instead, so they used it. They acknowledged they had access to a group chat that could have been used to ask someone to bring paper towels, but they did not send a message because the washcloth was already there.
The aide said that if the washcloth had not been available, they would have walked to a bathroom to wash their hands rather than skip the step entirely. "Everything should have been kept clean, including themselves," they told inspectors.
That instinct, at least, was right. The execution was not.
The President of Operations, identified as staff member 181, told inspectors later that same day that the facility employed a dedicated staff person whose job was to stock and clean the kitchenettes daily. That person was supposed to be checking that handwashing sinks had soap and paper towels. The President of Operations did not explain why the system had failed across eight of nine sinks simultaneously.
The Director of Dietary Services, identified as staff member 76, told inspectors that the correct procedure when supplies ran out was for staff to report the shortage to a supervisor, who would then send an email to housekeeping. The director said they had not been aware that eight of the nine sinks were unequipped until it was reported to maintenance and housekeeping, which inspectors understood to mean the problem was reported around the time of the inspection itself.
The deficiency was cited under New York State health code and classified as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, with many residents affected. The classification reflects the reach of a food service operation that supplies meals across a facility, not a single isolated incident in one room.
Van Duyn Center is a large rehabilitation and nursing facility on West Seneca Turnpike on the south side of Syracuse. Inspectors completed the survey on April 18, 2025.
What the inspection captured was a gap between how the facility described its own systems and what those systems actually produced. There was a person assigned to stock the kitchenettes. There was a reporting chain for when supplies ran out. There was a group chat staff could use to flag problems in real time. None of it resulted in functional handwashing stations for the people preparing and serving food to residents.
The dietary aide who used a washcloth that morning was not trying to cut corners. By their own account, they understood why clean hands mattered. They made a judgment call with what was in front of them and kept moving.
Eight sinks without soap or paper towels is not a judgment call. It is a system that was not working, and nobody in the chain responsible for maintaining it knew until an inspector arrived and started asking questions.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Van Duyn Center For Rehabilitation and Nursing from 2025-04-18 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.
Corrections: We strive for accuracy in everything we publish. If you believe any fact in this article is incorrect, please contact us with details, and we will review and correct it promptly.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: October 28, 2026 · Our methodology
Van Duyn Center For Rehabilitation And Nursing in SYRACUSE, NY was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 18, 2025.
That detail emerged during a state inspection in April.
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.