North Country Nursing & Rehab: Menu Failures - NY
When a state inspector visited the facility at 182 Highland Road on August 15, 2025, staff described a dining program built less around resident choice than around whatever happened to be sitting in the kitchen that morning. Aides, nurses, and the food service director all told the same story, one complaint at a time.
Certified Nurse Aide #9 said it plainly: residents were served mashed potatoes or rice every single day. Many complained about getting the same foods over and over. A second aide, Certified Nurse Aide #10, confirmed it and added another problem. The food sometimes arrived cold. Staff had to reheat it or call the kitchen for a replacement, then take the temperature before handing it back to residents to make sure it wasn't too hot. Some families had started bringing in food from outside because they knew their relatives would actually eat it.
Licensed Practical Nurse #11 had eaten the food personally. It was bland, they told the inspector. Residents complained frequently about the repetition. Licensed Practical Nurse #12 added that residents received a lot of chicken, that the mashed potatoes and vegetables were usually the same daily, and that the vegetable was typically either an assorted mix or just carrots. Most residents, they said, complained about getting the same thing all the time.
The Director of Nursing acknowledged the complaints. Alternates were listed on the menu, they said. The facility also offered soup and sandwiches.
What the Food Service Director told the inspector was more revealing. When the inspector asked to see the menu, the director said it was not readily available. The reason: the posted menu was generic, kept that way to make it appear neater. The actual meals were decided daily based on whatever food was available in the kitchen. If there were vegetables and desserts on hand, that was considered adequate. The food being served during the inspection was not always what the posted menu showed.
The director also acknowledged that the facility did not have menus signed by the dietitian, as required. By 11:26 that morning, less than half an hour after the inspector started asking questions, the director said the facility was in the process of having them signed and sent over.
The registered dietitian had apparently set and approved a menu at some point. That menu existed in the facility's electronic dietary program, Meal Tracker, and met residents' nutritional needs on paper. The practical reality, according to multiple staff members who worked the floors every day, was something simpler and more repetitive: mashed potatoes or rice, carrots or a vegetable mix, a lot of chicken, and sandwiches if you didn't want what was on the tray.
Inspectors cited the deficiency as affecting many residents, with potential for harm. It was classified at the lowest level of the harm scale.
That classification captures the regulatory picture. It doesn't capture what it looks like to eat the same bland food, cold, in the same dining room, day after day, when the menu on the wall promises something different and nobody in the kitchen is following it.
Families had already started working around the problem, bringing in food from outside so their relatives would have something they actually wanted to eat.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for North Country Nursing & Rehabilitation Center from 2025-08-15 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.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 6, 2026 · Our methodology
NORTH COUNTRY NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER in MASSENA, NY was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 15, 2025.
Aides, nurses, and the food service director all told the same story, one complaint at a time.
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.