Davidson Health & Rehab: Vaccine Storage Failures - NC
The refrigerator was supposed to stay between 35 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn't.
When inspectors reviewed the temperature log during an August 28 complaint inspection, they found reading after reading below the safe lower threshold. Thirty-four degrees. Thirty-three. Thirty-two. Thirty-one. Thirty degrees, recorded at 3:50 in the afternoon on one occasion. The readings stretched across more than three weeks of documented checks, logged at morning and evening shifts by staff who initialed beside each number.
Not once, across all of those entries, did anyone document taking corrective action.
The facility's own temperature log instructions were specific about what staff were supposed to do when a reading fell out of range. Label the exposed vaccine. Store it under proper conditions as quickly as possible. Record the out-of-range temperature and the room temperature in the action area at the bottom of the log. Notify the vaccine coordinator or the immunization program at the state or local health department. Document the action taken on the attached Vaccine Storage Troubleshooting Record.
None of that happened. The action area went unfilled. The troubleshooting record went untouched. Medications were still sitting in the refrigerator when inspectors arrived.
When inspectors spoke with Nurse #2 in the medication room at 2:00 PM during the inspection, she said she had checked the refrigerator temperature at the beginning of her shift, adjusted it, and planned to check it again later to make sure it was back in range. She offered no explanation for the weeks of prior out-of-range readings that had been logged and left without response.
The Director of Nursing said she expected nurses to adjust the temperature if it fell out of range and then notify the nurse manager. She said she expected nurses to mark medications when they were opened and discard them when they expired.
What the log showed was that neither expectation had been met, repeatedly, across more than twenty documented instances of below-range temperatures.
The concern with medications stored too cold is not abstract. Vaccines and certain other refrigerated medications can be degraded by temperatures outside their required storage range, whether too warm or too cold. A medication that has been compromised by improper storage may not work as intended. In a nursing home population, where residents depend on those medications to prevent serious illness, the consequences of degraded product are not theoretical.
The deficiency was cited at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, meaning inspectors assessed that no resident had yet been documented as harmed, but the conditions created real risk.
The inspection was a complaint survey, meaning someone had raised a concern about conditions at the facility before inspectors arrived. The report does not identify who filed the complaint or what specifically prompted it.
What the log does show is a pattern that unfolded in plain sight. Every nurse who initialed a below-range temperature reading and moved on without acting had the instructions in front of them. The log's own header described exactly what to do. The action section at the bottom of the page remained blank anyway.
Davidson Health & Rehab Center is located at 4748 Old Salisbury Road in Lexington. The inspection was completed August 28, 2025.
The medications were still in the refrigerator when inspectors left.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Davidson Health & Rehab Center from 2025-08-28 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
Davidson Health & Rehab Center in Lexington, NC was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 28, 2025.
The refrigerator was supposed to stay between 35 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
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.