Woodland Pond at New Paltz: Call Bell Left Ringing - NY
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident #28, has cerebral infarction, hemiplegia, and aphasia, a condition that limits the ability to communicate. They were fully dependent on staff for incontinence care. When a certified nursing aide finally reached them just before noon on February 1, 2025, the resident was crying. They told the aide they had not been tended to in a long time. Incontinence care wasn't provided until approximately 12:20 PM, nearly 90 minutes after the call bell first rang.
The facility's own investigation documented the timeline precisely: the bell initiated at 10:53:55 AM, and was answered at 12:00:52 PM, a wait of 66 minutes and 57 seconds.
Administration was notified that afternoon.
When inspectors interviewed Woodland Pond's Director of Nursing on April 23, 2025, the director acknowledged the wait and said the facility was currently auditing call bell response times. The director stated that a wait of more than 20 to 25 minutes was unreasonable. The resident had waited more than three times that.
The February incident wasn't the only staffing concern inspectors documented. The Director of Nursing also told inspectors they believed it was reasonable to assign two aides to cover 19 residents with total care needs overnight, on the grounds that licensed nurses helped with resident care when needed. Nineteen residents with total care needs is a heavy overnight load for two aides, and the inspection report flagged the arrangement as part of the same deficiency citation.
Resident #28's care plan, dated October 2024, documented dependency on staff for incontinence care. Their most recent assessments showed moderately impaired cognition and a need for maximum assistance with activities of daily living. For a resident who cannot easily advocate for themselves, cannot move independently, and whose ability to speak is compromised, a broken call bell response is not a minor inconvenience. It is the only lifeline they have.
The inspection was conducted on April 24, 2025. The deficiency was cited under New York State's patient care regulations.
What the records don't resolve is how often this happens to residents who are never found crying, who can't communicate what they experienced, or whose call bell data isn't captured in an investigation. The February incident came to light because the aide reported it and administration opened a file. The Director of Nursing told inspectors the facility was auditing response times as of late April, two and a half months after the documented failure.
Resident #28 had already waited.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Woodland Pond At New Paltz from 2025-04-24 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 26, 2026 · Our methodology
Woodland Pond At New Paltz in New Paltz, NY was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 24, 2025.
They were fully dependent on staff for incontinence care.
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.