Ridgewood Living & Rehab: COVID Vaccine Failures - NC
The deficiency, cited under infection control, was one of 11 violations inspectors found when they visited the facility on September 5. The COVID-19 vaccination lapse was classified as a pattern of noncompliance, meaning inspectors determined it wasn't an isolated oversight. It affected more than a handful of people.
No resident was documented as harmed. But inspectors determined the potential for more than minimal harm existed, which is the threshold that triggers a formal citation.
The specific failure cuts across three separate obligations the facility had not met. It had not shown that residents and staff received education about COVID-19 vaccines. It had not shown that eligible residents and staff were offered the vaccine following that education. And it had not properly documented vaccination status for either group.
That third failure, the documentation gap, carries its own weight. A nursing home that cannot account for who among its residents and staff is vaccinated cannot make informed decisions about outbreak response, cohorting, or visitor protocols. The record is the foundation. Without it, the facility is operating without a clear picture of its own population's protection against a virus that has killed more nursing home residents than any other single group in the United States since 2020.
Ridgewood reported the deficiency corrected as of September 23, eighteen days after inspectors walked out the door.
Whether that correction involved a genuine overhaul of how the facility tracks and offers vaccines, or whether it meant producing paperwork that had existed somewhere but wasn't surfaced during the inspection, the records don't say. What the inspection record establishes is that on the day inspectors arrived, the system wasn't working.
The facility sits in Washington, a small city on the Pamlico River in eastern North Carolina, a region that has historically faced challenges with healthcare access and an older population that skews toward higher vulnerability. Nursing homes in rural and semi-rural areas of North Carolina have faced persistent staffing and compliance pressures in the years since the pandemic reshaped the industry.
Ten other deficiencies were cited during the same inspection. The nature of those violations is not detailed in this inspection record, but the volume matters. Eleven deficiencies in a single visit is not a clean bill of health. It is a facility where inspectors found, repeatedly, that things were not being done the way they were supposed to be done.
The COVID vaccination deficiency, taken alone, might seem administrative. A paperwork problem. A documentation gap that a few hours of staff time could close. That framing understates what the requirement is actually designed to do.
Nursing homes became the epicenter of COVID-19 mortality in the United States in 2020 and remained among the most dangerous settings for the virus through multiple subsequent waves. The federal vaccination documentation requirement exists because facilities with incomplete records cannot be held accountable for whether they actually protected their most vulnerable residents. Inspection records don't reveal whether a single resident at Ridgewood went unvaccinated who wanted to be vaccinated, or whether staff members who worked in close contact with residents declined the vaccine without that refusal being properly recorded.
What they reveal is that the system meant to answer those questions wasn't functioning.
Ridgewood reported the problem fixed within three weeks. That is the end of the paper trail that exists publicly. The residents who live there, and the families who placed them there, are left to take that correction on faith.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Ridgewood Living & Rehabilitation Center from 2025-09-05 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
Ridgewood Living & Rehabilitation Center in Washington, NC was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 5, 2025.
The deficiency, cited under infection control, was one of 11 violations inspectors found when they visited the facility on September 5.
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.