Meadowbrook at Black River Falls: Lift Sling Failure - WI
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident 2, required a mechanical lift to get out of bed. That's what their care plan called for. When they asked to get up, staff had a simple explanation: the slings for the lift were all being washed, so there was nothing to use. The resident stayed in bed.
State inspectors cited Meadowbrook at Black River Falls for the incident following a complaint inspection completed October 22, 2025. The violation was tagged under F0677, which covers basic personal care and grooming assistance, at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm.
The Director of Nursing acknowledged the incident directly. She told inspectors that staff had informed Resident 2 about the slings and confirmed what the inspection record makes plain: all of the slings should not have been washed at the same time. That's it. That was the failure. Someone decided to launder every sling the facility owned in a single cycle, and when a resident asked to get out of bed, there was nothing left to lift them with.
The administrator told inspectors she expected staff to assist residents out of bed when they asked and according to their care plans. She said she expected residents to be gotten up for meals, for activities, and whenever they wanted. What she expected and what happened on August 17 were two different things.
Mechanical lifts exist in nursing facilities because some residents cannot bear their own weight, cannot transfer themselves, cannot stand without the equipment. The sling is what connects a person to that lift. Without it, the machine is useless. A resident who needs a lift to get out of bed and has no sling available has, in practical terms, no option. They wait.
What the inspection record doesn't say is how long Resident 2 waited. It doesn't say whether they missed a meal, whether they were supposed to attend an activity that morning, whether they asked again later in the day or simply stopped asking. It doesn't say how they felt about being told the reason they couldn't get up was a laundry scheduling decision. Those details aren't in the file.
What is in the file is the Director of Nursing confirming it happened, and confirming that the facility's own standard, unstated in the report but implicit in her answer, was that all slings should never be washed at once. Somebody knew the rule. The rule wasn't followed.
The citation covers few residents, and the harm level is listed as minimal or potential. That's the regulatory language. The lived version is a person who wanted to get out of bed and was told no because of how someone organized the laundry.
Meadowbrook at Black River Falls is a nursing facility in Jackson County in western Wisconsin. The October complaint inspection that produced this citation covered two pages. This violation was on the second.
The administrator's statement to inspectors was straightforward. She expected residents to be helped up when they wanted to be helped up. That expectation did not reach whoever decided, on August 17, that all the slings could go into the wash together.
Resident 2 stayed in bed.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Meadowbrook At Black River Falls from 2025-10-22 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 7, 2026 · Our methodology
MEADOWBROOK AT BLACK RIVER FALLS in BLACK RIVER FALLS, WI was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 22, 2025.
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident 2, required a mechanical lift to get out of bed.
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.