Altoona Nursing and Rehabilitation: Call Light Delays - IA
She was not describing this from a chair or a bed. She was describing it from inside an EZ stand, a mechanical lift used to move residents who cannot stand on their own, while she waited for a nursing assistant to come back.
The inspection at Altoona Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on October 30, 2025, was a complaint investigation. What inspectors documented was brief and specific: a resident left in a mechanical lift, a staff member who walked out to find help, and a woman who had been counting the minutes long before anyone from the government showed up to ask.
The sequence inspectors recorded that morning took about four minutes on paper. At 11:35 a.m., a certified nursing assistant brought the EZ stand machine into the resident's room and then left it there, telling the resident he would return once he found another staff member to assist. At 11:39 a.m., staff came back. Four minutes is not a long time to wait inside a piece of medical equipment.
Two to three hours is.
Resident 11 told the inspector about the longer waits at 11:37 a.m., while she was still in the machine, still waiting for the CNA to return. She pointed to the clock under the television when she said it. She had a system. She had been doing this long enough to develop one.
The deficiency was cited under F0725, which covers sufficiency of nursing staff, and was tagged at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm. Inspectors noted that some residents were affected, not just one.
What the inspection report does not contain is any explanation of how long the staffing problem had been occurring, how many times Resident 11 had timed her call light before that morning, or what the facility said in response. The plan of correction, if one exists, is held by the facility or the state survey agency.
What the report does contain is the image of a woman in a mechanical lift, pointing at a clock, explaining to a federal inspector that she has learned not to expect anyone quickly. That she measures the wait. That the measurement is routine enough that she knows where the clock is and how to read it from wherever she happens to be stranded.
The EZ stand is not a comfortable place to wait. It is a device designed to get a person from one position to another, not to hold them in suspension while staff work out a coverage problem in the hallway. The resident was not in distress in any way the inspection report describes. She was, by the account she gave, simply accustomed to this.
That is its own kind of finding.
Altoona Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is located at 200 Seventh Avenue SW in Altoona, Iowa. The inspection was completed October 30, 2025.
The clock under the television is still there.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Altoona Nursing and Rehabilitation Center from 2025-10-30 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 6, 2026 · Our methodology
Altoona Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Altoona, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 30, 2025.
She was not describing this from a chair or a 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.