BRIA of Elmwood Park: Nursing Shortage on Ventilator Unit - IL
That nurse wasn't alone in saying it.
The respiratory unit houses some of the most medically fragile residents in the building. Most are on ventilators. Many have tracheostomies and feeding tubes. The facility's own assessment, completed in October 2025, describes the third floor as a unit that "takes care of respiratory patients with complex health needs including ventilators." The staffing plan calls for two licensed nurses per unit, per shift.
Two nurses. For a floor of ventilator-dependent residents.
When inspectors arrived at the facility on March 24 and 25, 2026, following a complaint, they found something the staffing records confirmed and the nurses said plainly: two nurses isn't enough, and everyone working there knows it.
The registered nurse, identified in inspection records as V69, was interviewed on the afternoon of March 24. "I have to be honest, no there is not enough nurses on the 3rd floor," she told the inspector. "We really need a third nurse. These patients are very acute, most are on ventilators and have trachs, g-tubes. It feels like all I can do is pass medication and by the time my shift is over, I have just been passing meds the whole time."
She described trying to answer call lights when she could, but said it was very hard. She said families had significant needs too. "It's not very safe," she said. She credited the CNAs for staying on top of what they could do within their role, but said the volume of nursing tasks was simply too much.
The next afternoon, a licensed practical nurse who regularly works the same floor, identified as V61, described the same reality in more specific terms. "The third floor is the heaviest and the residents there require the most amount of care of any unit," she said. "You can ask any nurse; they will tell you the unit needs another nurse."
V61 laid out what that actually means during a shift. Residents need ventilator management, tube feedings, and medications. When nurses focus on giving adequate care to those residents, other tasks fall behind. "We are not able to get things done like processing physician orders or relaying labs in a timely manner," she said. "If we can get to it by the end of our shift."
When the day nurses can't get to something, the coverage that takes over isn't a physician who knows the residents. "Overnight telehealth is on call to cover," V61 said, "and it's just not the same as calling their regular provider for continuity of care."
She also described what it's like when family members, many of them present on the unit and frightened about their loved ones, need attention. "Sometimes, they will even be in your face yelling at you," she said.
The facility's own infection preventionist, identified as V8, told the inspector the same thing the nurses did. "I really do think you need a 3rd nurse up there," V8 said. "The patients have a lot of needs and can decline very rapidly based on their health."
Staffing records reviewed by inspectors covering March 9 through March 25, 2026, confirmed what the nurses described: two licensed nurses per shift on the third floor, consistent with the staffing plan, and not one more.
The inspection was classified as involving minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting some residents. That classification reflects the regulatory floor for documenting the deficiency, not a finding that nothing had gone wrong. What the nurses described, in their own words, was a unit where medications got passed, physician orders went unprocessed, lab results went unrelayed, and call lights went unanswered, not because anyone was negligent, but because two nurses cannot do the work of three on a floor where most residents cannot breathe on their own.
The registered nurse said it herself. By the time her shift ended, she had been passing medications the whole time. That was all there was time for.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Bria of Elmwood Park from 2026-03-29 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: June 18, 2026 · Our methodology
BRIA OF ELMWOOD PARK in ELMWOOD PARK, IL was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 29, 2026.
That nurse wasn't alone in saying it.
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.