Crystal Cove Post Acute: Kitchen Sanitation Failures - WA
Staff K, a dietary aide, was asked during an August 21 inspection to demonstrate chemical testing for the dishwasher and the sanitary bucket. He couldn't. "Not sure if I did strips," he told inspectors. He also couldn't produce any documentation showing current dishwasher temperatures or chemical testing results for the dishwasher, the three-compartment sink, or the sanitary bucket.
That wasn't the only problem in the kitchen.
The facility had run out of its standard sink and surface sanitizer product at some point before the inspection. Rather than reorder it, staff hooked the system up to a chlorine-based substitute. The trouble was that nobody switched to chlorine test strips. Staff kept using the old strips to check chemical levels, strips designed for a different product entirely.
When an Echo lab technician came to assess the dishwasher on August 20, he found it testing at 100 parts per million, which he described as adequate. But he told inspectors the facility had been checking the chlorine product with the wrong strips the whole time. He said he counseled staff to increase the product concentration until it reached an appropriate level and to order the correct sanitizer.
The three-compartment sink had its own separate failure. A staff member identified as Staff F checked the sink's chemical level in front of inspectors and found the strip reading at 10. The correct range is 200 to 275. Staff F acknowledged the sink is used every day and that there was no documentation of temperature monitoring or chemical testing for it.
Staff F is the dietary manager. She told inspectors she had started the position seven weeks earlier. She said she had received little training. The facility had given her its policies recently, she said, and she had never had any interaction with the consulting dietician.
The consulting dietician, reached by phone on August 21, said she works at the facility one day per week and has clinical duties only. "I am a consultant and do not have any kitchen involvement and do not oversee the kitchen," she said.
Staff F explained that the previous cook had walked out, leaving her to take over cooking duties while simultaneously training a new cook.
The administrator, identified as Staff A, acknowledged all of it during an interview on August 22. He said the facility had experienced significant staff turnover in the kitchen and among dietary managers over the preceding several months. He acknowledged that staff were new and still in training. He acknowledged he is responsible for ensuring oversight in the kitchen.
Inspectors cited the deficiency as affecting many residents and rated it at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm.
What the inspection captured was a kitchen operating for weeks, possibly longer, without anyone who knew how to verify whether the dishes coming out of the sink or the dishwasher were actually clean. The manager was new and undertrained. The aide didn't know the testing procedure. The consultant wasn't involved. The administrator knew turnover had been a problem.
The correct sanitizer has since been ordered. The wrong test strips have presumably been replaced. But for the residents who ate off those dishes in the weeks before inspectors arrived, there is no way to know what level of sanitizer, if any, was actually reaching the surfaces their food touched.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Crystal Cove Post Acute from 2025-08-22 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: July 2, 2026 · Our methodology
Crystal Cove Post Acute in LACEY, WA was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 22, 2025.
Staff K, a dietary aide, was asked during an August 21 inspection to demonstrate chemical testing for the dishwasher and the sanitary bucket.
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.