North Auburn Care: Dehydration and Weight Loss Failures - WA
That was one of the findings federal inspectors documented during an April 2025 survey of North Auburn Care, a nursing facility at 2830 I Street Northeast in Auburn. Inspectors cited the facility for failing to provide adequate hydration to residents and for failing to catch dangerous weight loss before it had already happened.
Resident 7 had no swallowing difficulties and no restrictions on fluids. A care plan from November 2024 specifically directed staff to encourage fluids with each care interaction because the resident was at risk for dehydration. By April 2025, nothing had changed on paper. In practice, something had.
"Staff do not bring them water," Resident 7 told inspectors on April 15. "I am always thirsty." The resident said they had to ask staff to bring a water pitcher, and sometimes staff would say they would return with one and then not come back.
Inspectors watched what happened the next morning. At 8:56 a.m. on April 16, staff did not offer Resident 7 any hydration. The resident had to ask, again, for fresh water.
A second resident, Resident 35, had a documented history of peripheral vascular disease related to diabetes, with a care plan directing staff to encourage good hydration. An admission assessment from June 2024 had flagged dehydration as a concern and noted that staff would assess and manage the resident's fluid needs. Resident 35's ability to make daily decisions was severely impaired, meaning the resident could not reliably advocate for themselves the way Resident 7 had.
When inspectors checked Resident 35's room on April 15 at 12:05 p.m., there was no water pitcher and no fluids of any kind visible.
The Assistant Director of Nursing, identified in the report as Staff E, told inspectors on April 18 that staff were expected to offer and provide water pitchers to all residents every shift and as needed. "The residents should not have to ask to get them," Staff E said.
They were asking anyway. And sometimes still going without.
The hydration failures were not the only problem inspectors found. A third resident, Resident 17, lost more than six percent of their body weight in a single month, a threshold the facility's own registered dietitian acknowledged was beyond acceptable limits.
The dietitian, identified as Staff Q, told inspectors that a safe weight loss target would be no more than two percent in a week and five percent in a month. When asked how staff were supposed to prevent monthly weight loss from exceeding five percent when the six percent loss for Resident 17 was not identified until after it had already occurred, Staff Q did not answer. "No further information was provided," the inspection report notes.
A separate staff member, identified as Staff D, said the resident should have been reweighed and that there should have been a measurable goal for safe weight loss, for example one to two pounds per week. The weight loss had already happened. The goal had not been set in time to matter.
The inspection report classified the dehydration and nutrition violations as causing minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and noted that few residents were affected. The classification reflects the regulatory framework inspectors use, not a judgment that going thirsty in a care facility is a minor inconvenience.
Resident 7 already knew that. They had been asking for water, and waiting, and asking again.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for North Auburn Care from 2025-04-21 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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Last verified: October 31, 2026 · Our methodology
North Auburn Care in AUBURN, WA was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 21, 2025.
Resident 7 had no swallowing difficulties and no restrictions on fluids.
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.