Aperion Care Forest Park: Damaged Lift Left on Floor - IL
The inspector documented the lift at 12:15 p.m. on May 19. Two red and black inner cords hung from a frayed grey charging cord. One minute later, a registered nurse identified in the report as V15 told the inspector she wasn't sure whether the machine still worked, but that exposed cords like those meant it shouldn't be used. "It can be unsafe," she said.
Twenty-three minutes after that, the Director of Nursing said the same thing in different words. Machines with exposed cords should be reported to maintenance and removed from the floor, she told the inspector.
Two days passed.
On the morning of May 21, the Maintenance Director, identified as V4, explained to the inspector how the lift is supposed to work: the outer grey cord exists to protect the inner wiring during safe operation. He said the machine should have been pulled from the floor and reported to maintenance if there was a concern.
Inspectors then reviewed the maintenance log for third-floor work orders. There was no record of any report about the mechanical lift. No repair request. No removal notice. Nothing.
The facility's own policy, revised in January 2018, states that mechanical lift equipment must undergo routine maintenance checks by nursing and maintenance staff to ensure it stays in working order. That responsibility, the policy says, falls on licensed nurses, CNAs, and restorative and therapy staff.
Three separate staff members, including the two people most responsible for equipment safety on that floor, all described exactly what should have happened. None of them could point to any record showing it had.
What makes this more than a paperwork problem is what mechanical lifts are actually used for. The facility's policy describes them as the required method for lifting and moving residents, specifically to protect the safety of both staff and the people in their care. A lift with compromised wiring, left in place and available for use, creates a real hazard: electrical risk to whoever handles the charger, and the possibility that a machine mid-transfer fails on a resident who cannot support their own weight.
The inspector classified the violation as causing minimal harm or the potential for actual harm, with few residents affected, meaning those on the third floor. The inspection was a complaint survey, not a routine visit.
What the report does not say is how long the lift had been sitting there in that condition. The maintenance log showed no prior reports, but the log's silence doesn't establish a timeline. It only confirms that however long the cords had been exposed, nobody had written it down.
The registered nurse who spoke to the inspector one minute after the observation was made said she wasn't sure if the machine still worked. That uncertainty, about a piece of equipment central to moving residents safely, is itself a detail worth sitting with. A lift that may or may not function, with wiring that should have disqualified it from use, on a floor where residents depend on it.
The Director of Nursing knew what the protocol required. The Maintenance Director knew what the protocol required. The nurse on the floor knew the machine looked wrong. The maintenance log shows none of that knowledge translated into action before an outside inspector walked the hall.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Aperion Care Forest Park from 2026-05-22 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.
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Last verified: October 31, 2026 · Our methodology
APERION CARE FOREST PARK in FOREST PARK, IL was cited for violations during a health inspection on May 22, 2026.
The inspector documented the lift at 12:15 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.