Westlake Care Community: Respiratory Care Failure - CO
Federal health inspectors who visited Westlake Care Community in Lakewood, Colorado on August 27, 2025, found that the facility could not reliably deliver safe and appropriate respiratory care to residents who needed it. The citation was one of six deficiencies inspectors documented during the complaint inspection.
The respiratory care finding was classified under a federal category covering quality of life and care deficiencies. Inspectors assigned it a scope and severity rating of D, meaning they identified the problem as isolated and found no documented actual harm to any resident. They did find, however, that the potential for more than minimal harm was real.
That distinction matters less than it might seem. A D-level citation does not mean nothing happened. It means inspectors could not point to a specific resident who was hurt. It does not mean the next resident who needed a breathing treatment, an oxygen adjustment, or airway support would have been safe.
Respiratory care in a nursing home setting covers a range of interventions, from oxygen therapy and nebulizer treatments to ventilator management and tracheostomy care. Residents who depend on any of these are, by definition, residents whose bodies cannot fully manage on their own. A lapse in that care, even a brief one, can escalate quickly.
The inspection report does not describe what specific aspect of respiratory care failed, which resident or residents were involved, or what staff did or did not do. What it records is that inspectors examined the facility's practices and found them deficient against the federal standard requiring safe and appropriate respiratory care be provided when a resident needs it.
Westlake Care Community reported to federal regulators that it had corrected the deficiency as of October 10, 2025, roughly six weeks after the inspection. That self-reported correction date is noted in federal records, though the inspection report contains no independent verification of what the correction involved or whether it addressed the root cause of the problem.
The facility was cited for five additional deficiencies during the same inspection. The report reviewed for this article does not detail those findings. Six citations in a single complaint inspection is not a minor outcome. Complaint inspections are typically triggered by a report from a resident, family member, or staff, meaning someone inside or close to the facility believed something was wrong enough to contact regulators.
Colorado nursing home residents and their families have limited visibility into what happens during these inspections beyond what federal databases publish. The inspection narrative reviewed here is brief, the details thin. What it confirms is that inspectors arrived, looked at respiratory care practices, and left with a citation.
For residents at Westlake Care Community who depend on oxygen, nebulizers, or other respiratory support, the August inspection captured a moment when that dependence was not being met safely. The facility says it fixed the problem by October. The inspection report does not say what it fixed, or what the resident who needed help breathing experienced while the problem existed.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Edgewater Health and Rehabilitation from 2025-08-27 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: October 4, 2026 · Our methodology
Edgewater Health and Rehabilitation in LAKEWOOD, CO was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 27, 2025.
The citation was one of six deficiencies inspectors documented during the complaint inspection.
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.