Mackinac Straits Long Term Care: Transport Safety Failure - MI
The inspection, which cited actual harm to the resident identified as R10, found that the two staff members who performed the transport, a certified nursing assistant and an activities assistant, had no documented training on transporting residents in wheelchairs. When inspectors asked the nursing home administrator to produce those records, he said he couldn't.
He had no documentation. For either employee.
The facility's own van transport policy, dated just two weeks before the inspection, stated plainly that no resident would be transported if their wheelchair could not be safely secured or if they could not use a seatbelt while seated in it. R10's wheelchair met neither condition. The tie-downs didn't fit. The harness didn't fit. The chair itself wasn't rated for the vehicle.
The administrator told inspectors the facility had ordered four new wheelchairs designed for transport use and planned to require all transport staff to complete hands-on competency demonstrations once the chairs arrived. In the meantime, he said, the facility had stopped transporting wheelchair-bound residents in the van entirely.
The chairs, as of the inspection, had not yet arrived.
R10 made that trip before any of those safeguards existed, in a wheelchair that should never have been in the van, with staff who had never been shown how to do the job safely.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Mackinac Straits Long Term Care Unit from 2025-10-15 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
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 19, 2026 · Our methodology
Mackinac Straits Long Term Care Unit in St. Ignace, MI was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 15, 2025.
When inspectors asked the nursing home administrator to produce those records, he said he couldn't.
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.