Wedgewood Healthcare: Powerchair Taken, Never Replaced - FL
The chair was removed on admission. Staff found it in poor condition, and the administrator later told inspectors there were bugs in it. Maintenance held it in a shed while the resident kept paying for it. Eventually, a vendor came and retrieved it. At no point did anyone at the facility assess the resident for a replacement or discuss with him the possibility of getting a new one.
The inspection, completed May 26, 2026, documented what happened in the months that followed. The resident, identified in records as Resident 4, was described by the nursing home administrator herself as fully cognitively intact and a younger man compared to most residents in the facility. The administrator acknowledged that losing the powerchair likely cost him some of his independence. She acknowledged he was not living at his highest level of independence. She stated she had not been aware he wanted a new powerchair.
He had been there since at least January 2026.
A psychiatry note from May 20 recorded the resident reporting ongoing grief over the loss of a family member, with another family member seriously ill and a third also sick. He described feeling down. He told the clinician that getting up out of bed and being active helped him feel better.
He had a progressive neurological disease that was making him weaker. His physician noted in late May that he was frustrated with the increased weakness affecting his mobility and was expressing frustrations with his current situation. A February progress note recorded that his stress-related symptoms continued unchanged, that he had been experiencing anxiety, feelings of frustration, and a loss of pleasure in things he had once enjoyed.
Getting up and being active helped him feel better. He did not have a way to move through the facility on his own.
The Director of Therapy, interviewed by inspectors on the afternoon of May 26, explained how the facility's powerchair evaluation process worked. For a resident to use a powerchair, therapy staff screen the person first, looking at their ability to maneuver it independently, their cognitive function, and their overall eligibility. The director confirmed that no one from therapy had worked with this resident on the chair question or discussed the possibility of a new or replacement device.
The director's explanation for why: the facility felt his powerchair was not in good enough condition to conduct the evaluation on, and the facility did not have any extra powerchairs available to use for the assessment.
The facility's own written policy, revised just weeks before the inspection on April 29, 2026, states that a motorized wheelchair assessment shall be completed by therapy for each resident who utilizes the device upon admission or prior to utilizing the device freely about the facility. The policy does not say the assessment depends on the condition of the chair the resident arrived with, or on whether the facility has a loaner available.
The nursing home administrator confirmed to inspectors that the facility did not work with the resident on replacing the powerchair. She agreed the situation was a concern. She said she had not known he wanted one.
There is no indication in the inspection record that anyone asked.
Progress notes show the resident had done extensive therapy with the facility's staff over his stay. The therapy director told inspectors he had not shown improvement. His MS was progressing. His physician documented his worsening weakness. His psychiatrist documented his grief, his anxiety, his frustration, his loss of pleasure.
He told his psychiatrist that being active helped. That getting out of bed helped. The facility had assessed him as alert and capable of making his own decisions. The administrator called him a younger man.
He had no way to get around on his own. The chair he brought was gone. No one had looked into getting him another one. The administrator said she had not known he wanted one, and so the issue was never addressed.
The inspection cited the facility for failing to ensure the resident received the services necessary to maintain his highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being. The level of harm was recorded as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, with few residents affected.
The resident's powerchair sat in a maintenance shed while he kept paying for it, and then a vendor came and took it away.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Wedgewood Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center from 2026-05-26 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 12, 2026 · Our methodology
WEDGEWOOD HEALTHCARE AND REHABILITATION CENTER in LAKELAND, FL was cited for violations during a health inspection on May 26, 2026.
The chair was removed on admission.
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.