Crystal Cove Post Acute: Kitchen Safety Failures - WA
When an inspector asked Staff K to demonstrate chemical testing for the dishwasher and the sanitary bucket on August 21, he said he wasn't sure if he used the test strips. He couldn't produce documentation of current dishwasher temperatures. He couldn't show records of chemical testing for the dishwasher, the three-compartment sink, or the sanitary bucket. He simply didn't know.
That uncertainty sat at the center of a complaint inspection completed August 22 at the Lacey post-acute facility, which found repeated failures in basic kitchen sanitation across multiple staff members, over multiple weeks, with management aware and unable to keep up.
The problems weren't subtle. On August 5, an inspector watched a cook identified as Staff L open a bag of frozen chicken with gloved hands, place the chicken on a sheet pan, leave the station, and return wearing the same gloves. Staff L then removed those gloves and put on a new pair without washing or sanitizing their hands first. The gloves changed. The contamination risk didn't.
Thirteen days later, inspectors were back. At 12:25 p.m. on August 18, Staff M plated food with gloved hands, then used those same gloves to pick up a slice of tomato, an onion, a hamburger bun, and a cooked hamburger patty. Then the gloves came off. No hand sanitizing. Five minutes later, Staff O came from the other side of the kitchen, picked up lettuce and sliced onion with gloved hands, finished making a sandwich, pulled off the gloves, and walked out of the kitchen without washing their hands.
Three workers. Three separate observations. The same pattern each time.
The kitchen itself told a longer story. On August 7, an inspector walked through with Staff N, a dietary aide who had been working there for about two weeks. The stove and oven had caked-on brown debris. There was a thick brown substance on the floor under the stove and along the grill doors. Black liquid had pooled on the outside of the grill beneath the grease trap. In the walk-in refrigerator, wet blankets had been laid on the floor to soak up water.
The inspector asked Staff N how long the refrigerator had been leaking. He said it had been leaking as long as he had worked there. Approximately two weeks.
The cleaning logs offered no evidence anyone had addressed any of it. A cook's daily cleaning schedule dated July 24 showed no documentation that any tasks had been completed. A dietary aide daily cleaning schedule, undated, showed the same thing: blank. Staff F, the dietary manager, acknowledged during an interview on August 21 that kitchen cleaning tasks had not been completed regularly. She explained that a cook had walked out, forcing her to take over cooking herself while simultaneously training a new hire.
Staff F had started her position seven days before that interview. She said she had received little training, that she had only just been handed the facility's policies, and that she had no interaction with the consultant dietician.
That consultant, reached by phone on August 21, said she works at the facility one day per week and has clinical duties only. She said she has no kitchen involvement and does not oversee the kitchen.
The administrator, Staff A, acknowledged during an interview on August 22 that 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 that he is responsible for ensuring oversight in the kitchen.
The dietary manager had been on the job for a week. The refrigerator had been leaking since before she arrived. The cleaning logs were empty. And the person testing the dishwasher chemicals wasn't sure he had ever used the test strips.
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.
He couldn't produce documentation of current dishwasher temperatures.
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.