North Auburn Care: Vision Care Neglect for Residents - WA
When inspectors visited on April 14, 2025, they found Resident 30 lying in bed with a pair of eyeglasses sitting on the overbed table nearby. The resident told them directly: "I put in for an eye exam a few months ago, but it didn't happen, nobody's gotten back to me."
Two days later, on April 16, the resident was still there and still waiting. Shown a written document, they tried to read it and couldn't. "It's a blur," the resident said. They explained they had gotten their current glasses more than two years ago. They needed new ones.
Records showed the facility had, at one point, actually scheduled something. A progress note from November 1, 2024 documented that a vision service had been set to see the resident that same day, but the resident had declined because they were feeling ill. The note said a follow-up would be scheduled for December 2024.
No follow-up ever happened.
There was no record of any vision services being provided to Resident 30 after that November entry. December came and went. January, February, March. By the time inspectors were walking the halls in April 2025, five months had passed since the missed appointment, and no one at the facility had rescheduled it.
The Social Service Director, identified in the inspection report as Staff G, confirmed this in an interview on April 21. The facility has a vision service that comes in to see residents on request, Staff G said. Staff should have rescheduled the appointment. They did not. Staff G's explanation was plain: they forgot about Resident 30.
The rescheduling only happened because surveyors raised it on April 17, during the inspection itself. The next available appointment at that point was June.
When Resident 30 had first been admitted to the facility, an assessment completed in September 2024 recorded adequate vision and no need for corrective lenses. That assessment was already out of step with what the resident was actually experiencing, a discrepancy the inspection report flagged separately under a related deficiency concerning the accuracy of resident assessments.
What the inspection captured, in plain terms, was a resident who knew what they needed, asked for it, and was then left to wait indefinitely while staff moved on and forgot. The resident's own account did not describe confusion about the process or uncertainty about whether they had made a request. They had made the request. Nothing had happened.
Inspectors cited the failure under a Washington state regulation requiring facilities to ensure residents receive proper treatment and assistive devices to maintain their vision and hearing. The finding was rated as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, the lower end of the severity scale, but the inspection noted that the failure placed the resident at risk for decline in daily functioning tied to vision.
For Resident 30, the practical consequence was already present. Reading had become impossible. A document held in front of them was a blur. The glasses on the overbed table were too old to do the job, and the appointment that might have addressed that was, as of the inspection's close, still two months away.
Staff G did not dispute any of it. The facility had a system. The system had a gap. The resident fell into it, and no one looked until inspectors asked.
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.
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
North Auburn Care in AUBURN, WA was cited for neglect violations during a health inspection on April 21, 2025.
When inspectors visited on April 14, 2025, they found Resident 30 lying in bed with a pair of eyeglasses sitting on the overbed table nearby.
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.