North Valley Nursing Center: Dementia Care Plan Missing - CA
That finding, documented during a May 2026 inspection of North Valley Nursing Center, captures something specific about how a facility can fail a resident not through a single dramatic act but through a document that was simply never written.
Resident 7 was first admitted to the facility in November 2023. She returned in April 2026 with a fresh admission carrying the same dementia diagnosis, along with pleural effusion and a need for help with all personal care. A physician's assessment from March 2026 confirmed she lacked the capacity to understand or participate in decisions about her own treatment. She was, by every measure in her chart, among the most vulnerable people in the building.
She had no dementia care plan.
The Assistant Director of Nursing reviewed Resident 7's care plans with inspectors on May 20 and came to the same conclusion. "She reviewed Resident 7's care plans and did not find a care plan for dementia," the inspection report states. The ADON described what that document is supposed to do: it is "the blue print," she said, "the guide that shows the care for the resident with the specific condition and situation." She said residents with dementia have impaired cognitive status and require specific interventions and a specific approach.
The Director of Nursing, interviewed the following day, called the care plan "the foundation for a resident's overall plan of care." She said a dementia-specific plan must address cognitive needs, identify problems, set goals, and allow staff to evaluate whether what they're doing is actually working. Then she said something the inspection report captures plainly: "the absence of a care plan for dementia can result in delays in care and unmet resident needs."
That is the facility's own Director of Nursing describing the consequence of what the facility failed to do for Resident 7.
The facility's internal dementia care policy, last reviewed in January 2026, four months before this inspection, states that the facility will assess, develop, and implement care plans for every resident diagnosed with dementia through a team approach that includes the resident, their family, and their representative. The policy existed. The diagnosis existed. The care plan did not.
Inspectors classified the violation as having the potential for minimal harm or actual harm and noted it affected a small number of residents. The deficiency does not carry the most severe federal designation. But the classification measures regulatory severity, not the daily reality of a woman who cannot speak for herself, cannot move herself, and cannot tell anyone when something is wrong.
A care plan for dementia is not a bureaucratic formality. It is the mechanism through which staff know how to approach a resident who may not recognize them, may become frightened during personal care, may need a particular kind of redirection when she's distressed. Without it, each staff member who enters Resident 7's room is working without a map.
The facility's own leadership acknowledged this. They said it clearly, on the record, to federal inspectors. The ADON said residents with dementia require specific interventions. The DON said the absence of a plan can cause delays and unmet needs.
Resident 7 was readmitted in April. Inspectors arrived in May. Somewhere in those weeks, no one on the interdisciplinary team sat down and wrote the document her condition required.
She was lying in bed when they found her, talking about something else entirely.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for North Valley Nursing Center 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.
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.
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Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: October 31, 2026 · Our methodology
NORTH VALLEY NURSING CENTER in TUJUNGA, CA was cited for violations during a health inspection on May 22, 2026.
Resident 7 was first admitted to the facility in November 2023.
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.