Willow Valley Center: Grievance Failures Ignored - NC
When the facility's Director of Social Services started her job in January 2025, she inherited a notebook. It was a binder kept by her predecessor, full of copies of written grievance response letters that had gone out to families. She reviewed it. She saw the letters end abruptly after October 2024. She said she was never told that sending those letters was required.
Federal inspectors arrived on August 29, 2025, and found the gap.
The inspection centered on one resident, identified in records as Resident #225, a person with end-stage renal disease and diabetes who was moderately cognitively impaired. The resident's responsible party, a family member, had filed two separate grievances with the facility's Social Services department — one in July 2024, one in January 2025. Both times, he said he raised concerns. Both times, the facility investigated. Both times, nobody sent him anything in writing.
The July 2024 grievance involved two problems at once: the cleanliness of the resident's room and the handling of the resident's wound treatment. Nursing staff spoke with the family member about dressing changes and how often they were being done. The environmental services supervisor told him the room had been deep cleaned. The facility's own grievance form documented all of this. It also documented that the resolution was communicated verbally. No letter followed.
Six months later, in January 2025, the family member was back. This time the complaint was about an unclean bathroom — the bathtub, the floor, a soap dispenser that had run out. The Environmental Services Manager investigated and resolved it: the tub and floor were cleaned, the soap dispenser was refilled. Again, the grievance form noted that findings were communicated verbally to the family member. Again, no written follow-up was sent.
The facility's own grievance policy, carrying a 2024 copyright date, spelled out exactly what a written response was supposed to include: the date the grievance was received, the steps taken to investigate it, a summary of what was found, a statement on whether the grievance was confirmed or not, any corrective action taken or planned, and the date the written decision was issued. Six specific elements. The policy existed. The letters did not.
During a phone interview on August 28, the resident's family member told inspectors the facility frequently did not communicate with him when he raised concerns about the resident's care. He had gone to Social Services. He had filed the grievances. Nobody followed up.
The Director of Social Services, interviewed the following afternoon, was candid about what she found when she reviewed the notebook. The written responses had stopped before she arrived. She had not been informed that notifying a complainant in writing was a federal requirement. She had been working at the facility for seven months before inspectors showed up and asked about it.
The deficiency was cited at a level of potential for minimal harm, the lowest tier on the scale. No immediate danger to residents was identified. But the resident at the center of this inspection — a cognitively impaired person with serious chronic illness, dependent on staff for wound care and basic hygiene — had a family member trying to advocate on his behalf, filing formal complaints through the proper channels, and receiving silence where a letter should have been.
The wound concern from July 2024 was resolved, the facility said. The bathroom was cleaned after January 2025. What was never resolved was whether the family member knew any of that with certainty, in writing, in a form he could keep.
He told inspectors he felt the facility frequently did not communicate with him. That was the finding. That was also the record.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Willow Valley Center For Nursing and Rehabilitatio from 2025-08-29 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 28, 2026 · Our methodology
Willow Valley Center for Nursing and Rehabilitatio in Winston-Salem, NC was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 29, 2025.
When the facility's Director of Social Services started her job in January 2025, she inherited a notebook.
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.