Belhaven Nursing & Rehab: Food Preference Ignored - IL
The resident got one anyway.
That is the finding at the center of a federal complaint inspection at Belhaven Nursing & Rehab Center, completed September 18, 2025. The resident, identified in inspection records as R2, had a documented dislike of peanut butter and jelly on file with the facility. The preference was not ambiguous, not buried in a chart, not communicated only verbally. It was on the meal tray ticket the dietary department uses to guide exactly what gets put in front of a resident at lunch.
R2 is not someone whose wishes could be easily dismissed as unclear. A cognitive assessment completed August 8, 2025, gave R2 a score of 15 on the Brief Interview for Mental Status, the highest possible score, indicating fully intact cognition. R2 knows what they want. R2 can say what they want. The facility had written it down.
R2 is also managing a significant health picture. Hemiplegia affecting the left side of the body, diabetes, seizures, vitamin D deficiency, hypertension, and heart disease are all part of the daily reality. For someone managing that many conditions, mealtimes are not incidental. Nutrition matters. So does the basic dignity of receiving food you have asked for.
Belhaven's own policy, titled Menu Selection/Alternatives, says residents will be able to choose foods they wish to have from the items available and that residents have the right to make informed choices. The policy goes further, describing a system where the activity department works with residents to select alternatives and delivers those selections to dietary. The infrastructure for honoring a preference like R2's was not missing. The policy described it in writing.
The gap between what the policy promised and what R2 received on September 17 is what inspectors documented.
Federal inspectors tagged the violation under F0806, which covers the right of residents to make food choices and receive alternatives consistent with their preferences. The level of harm was cited as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and the finding was noted to affect few residents. Those designations reflect regulatory categories, not a judgment that the experience of being repeatedly ignored at mealtime is trivial.
For someone with hemiplegia affecting one side of their body, every meal involves a degree of effort and dependency. R2 cannot simply push the tray aside and go make something else. Whatever arrives is largely what there is. When what arrives is something the resident has explicitly said they do not want, the resident's options are limited in ways that a person without physical disability would not face in the same moment.
The complaint inspection that produced this finding was not a routine survey. Someone raised a concern, and inspectors came to look at it. The records they reviewed, the tray ticket and the policy document, told the story without ambiguity.
Belhaven has not publicly responded to the inspection findings.
R2's tray ticket for September 17 still exists in the file, a small document with a clear instruction on it that did not change what ended up on the tray.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Belhaven Nursing & Rehab Center from 2025-09-18 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 17, 2026 · Our methodology
Belhaven Nursing & Rehab Center in CHICAGO, IL was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 18, 2025.
That is the finding at the center of a federal complaint inspection at Belhaven Nursing & Rehab Center, completed September 18, 2025.
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.