Alderwood Post Acute: Restorative Care Failures - WA
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident 2, has impairment in both her upper and lower extremities. She needs maximum assistance to move in bed and cannot transfer herself at all. When occupational therapists discharged her from active therapy on November 26, 2025, they documented a specific recommendation: restorative care, and help with putting on and taking off a left-hand orthotic she had been wearing to manage a flexion contracture. Physical therapists signed off the day before with a similar note, recommending restorative programs if she did not continue with Medicaid Part B services.
She did not continue with Medicaid Part B services.
No restorative programs started anyway.
When inspectors arrived in late March 2026, the resident told them directly. She said her therapy had been discontinued since October and there was no restorative nursing staff helping her with exercise. A review of her care plan, her electronic health record, and her therapy discharge summaries confirmed what she said. The care plan had been in place since June 2025. There was no documentation anywhere of restorative services being provided.
The breakdown, when inspectors traced it, was almost entirely administrative. The therapists had made the recommendation. They had written it down. But they had not entered a referral into the electronic health record system, which was how the MDS Coordinator, the person responsible for following up and implementing such programs, would have known to act. The MDS Coordinator told inspectors on March 25 that she had not been aware of the recommendations and confirmed there was no referral documentation in the system.
Staff C, described in the inspection report as the staff member who confirmed the therapy discharge date and the recommendation for restorative programs, told inspectors they could not find any restorative program referrals from the therapists in the EHR after the resident's readmission in October. The same staff member had confirmed, separately, that they knew the recommendation had been made.
The referral had been recommended. It had not been entered. And for four months, nobody connected those two facts.
On the last day of the inspection, March 30, the interim administrator and the director of nursing sat down with inspectors together. The director of nursing explained how the process was supposed to work: when therapists discharge a resident, they initiate the recommended restorative programs in the EHR so the MDS Coordinator can follow up. The interim administrator said the expectation was that all residents receive recommended restorative nursing programs.
The expectation and the outcome, in this case, were four months apart.
Inspectors cited the deficiency at a level of minimal harm, a designation that reflects the absence of documented physical injury rather than the absence of risk. For a resident with bilateral extremity impairment, a left-hand contracture managed by an orthotic, and no ability to transfer without full assistance, the question of what four months without restorative care means for her function is one the inspection report does not answer. The therapists who recommended the care are the ones who would have known.
They were no longer involved.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Alderwood Post Acute & Rehabilitation from 2026-03-30 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: August 4, 2026 · Our methodology
ALDERWOOD POST ACUTE & REHABILITATION in LYNNWOOD, WA was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 30, 2026.
The resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident 2, has impairment in both her upper and lower extremities.
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.