La Bella of Woodstock: Infection Control Failure - IL
The incident happened at 12:22 p.m. on December 19, during the lunch hour in the facility's dining room. The CNA, identified in the report as V11, was feeding a resident identified as R4. As she fed the resident, V11 rested her head on her left hand, holding it over her mouth. Then she rubbed her hands together and ran them over her nose.
R4 asked for more bread.
V11 walked to the serving counter, picked up garlic bread, brought it back, and gave it to R4. She did not wash her hands. She did not use hand sanitizer. She went directly from touching her face and nose to handling food that went into a resident's mouth.
Inspectors noted the lapse as part of a complaint inspection. Of four residents reviewed for infection control practices, one, R4, was involved in an observed violation.
The facility's own dietary manager confirmed what inspectors saw was a problem. V4, identified in the report as the Dietary Manager, told inspectors during an interview on December 29 that staff should not touch their face or nose and then deliver food to a resident without first washing or sanitizing their hands. "It's not sanitary," the dietary manager said.
The facility's hand washing policy, which inspectors reviewed, states that staff should wash their hands before handling food and after touching bare human body parts. The policy also notes that hand sanitizer does not replace handwashing in those situations.
The violation was cited under F0880, which covers infection prevention and control. Inspectors assessed the level of harm as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, with few residents affected.
That language, minimal harm, can obscure what the finding actually describes: a staff member responsible for feeding a vulnerable resident handled that resident's food with unwashed hands immediately after touching her own face and nose. The risk is not theoretical. Pathogens transferred by hand-to-face-to-food contact are among the most common routes of infection transmission in any setting, and nursing home residents, many of them elderly and with compromised immune systems, are among the most susceptible to the consequences.
The inspection was a complaint survey, meaning someone, a resident, a family member, a staff member, contacted regulators before inspectors arrived. The report does not identify who filed the complaint or what it alleged.
What inspectors found when they walked into the dining room just after noon on December 19 was a single CNA, sitting beside a resident she was feeding, leaning on her hand, rubbing her nose, and then walking to the serving counter to retrieve more food. No handwashing. No sanitizer. No pause.
R4 ate the bread.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for La Bella of Woodstock from 2025-12-19 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: August 20, 2026 · Our methodology
La Bella of Woodstock in WOODSTOCK, IL was cited for violations during a health inspection on December 19, 2025.
The incident happened at 12:22 p.m.
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.