Haida Nursing and Rehab: Sedation Without Alternatives - PA
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident 5, was given as-needed doses of Lorazepam on June 14, July 10, July 29, August 14, August 21, and August 25, along with one additional administration captured in the record. Lorazepam is a benzodiazepine, a class of drugs used to treat anxiety and agitation. In elderly nursing home residents, benzodiazepines carry well-documented risks: falls, confusion, respiratory depression, physical dependence.
The inspection, conducted on September 4, 2025, was triggered by a complaint. What inspectors found when they reviewed Resident 5's clinical record was an absence. No documented evidence, across all seven administrations, that staff had attempted non-pharmacological interventions before reaching for the medication.
Non-pharmacological approaches to agitation and anxiety in nursing home residents can include redirection, music, physical touch, changes in environment, or simply sitting with a resident. They are not guaranteed to work. But the question inspectors were asking was simpler than that: did anyone try, or at least write down that they tried?
The answer, according to the record, was no.
The Director of Nursing, interviewed by inspectors that same afternoon at 3:25 p.m., confirmed it. There was no documented evidence that non-pharmacological interventions were attempted prior to administering the as-needed Lorazepam on any of the dates in question. The Director of Nursing did not dispute the finding.
What the record shows is a pattern across nearly three months. June 14 at 4:10 in the afternoon. July 10 at 5:48 in the evening. July 29 just after noon. August 14 in the mid-afternoon. August 21 at 12:14 p.m. August 25 at 2:22 p.m. Each time, the drug was given. Each time, the chart was silent on what else was considered or attempted.
The violation was cited under Pennsylvania nursing home regulations governing medical director oversight, pharmacy services, and nursing services. CMS assigned it a harm level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, with some residents affected.
That classification sits at the lower end of the federal deficiency scale. It does not mean nothing happened to Resident 5. It means inspectors could not document that serious harm resulted. The gap between those two things is not always as wide as the paperwork suggests.
Lorazepam prescribed on an as-needed basis gives staff discretion. Someone, each of those seven times, made a judgment call that the medication was warranted. That judgment call may have been correct. The problem is there is no way to evaluate it, because nothing before the administration was written down. No description of what the resident was experiencing. No note that a staff member tried talking to them, or repositioning them, or dimming the lights, or calling a family member. Just the drug, and the time it was given.
For a resident receiving a sedative seven times in roughly ten weeks, that documentation gap is not a paperwork technicality.
Haida Nursing and Rehab is a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Hastings, a small borough in Cambria County in western Pennsylvania. The inspection that produced this finding was a complaint investigation, meaning someone, a resident, a family member, a staff member, or a visitor, contacted regulators with a concern serious enough to prompt a visit.
The inspection report does not say who filed the complaint or what it alleged. It does not describe Resident 5's diagnosis, age, or condition beyond what can be inferred from the medication. It does not say whether Resident 5 is still a resident at the facility.
What it says is that on September 4, 2025, inspectors sat down with the Director of Nursing and asked about seven dates. And the Director of Nursing confirmed that the documentation was not there.
Somewhere in that facility, Resident 5 was given a sedative seven times and no one wrote down whether anyone tried anything else first.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Haida Nursing and Rehab from 2025-09-04 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 25, 2026 · Our methodology
HAIDA NURSING AND REHAB in HASTINGS, PA was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 4, 2025.
Lorazepam is a benzodiazepine, a class of drugs used to treat anxiety and agitation.
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.