Regency Care Center: Unsanitized Lift Equipment - IA
That sequence, documented by inspectors at Regency Care Center on August 5, captures what two certified nursing assistants described as standard practice: shared mechanical lift equipment moved from resident to resident, day after day, without sanitizing in between.
The facility, which reported a census of 68 residents at the time of the inspection, was cited for failing to maintain a sanitary environment to prevent the spread of communicable diseases and infections.
The first incident inspectors observed happened at 9:40 that morning. Staff F, a CNA, and Staff G, another CNA, completed a mechanical lift transfer for Resident 4. When they finished, Staff F wheeled the lift into the hallway and left it there. No cleaning. The basket attached to the lift, where sanitizing wipes are typically stored, was empty.
Ten minutes later, Staff F told inspectors she had never been trained on cleaning the equipment after transfers. She said there were no sanitizing wipes available on the lifts in that hallway. Then she said something that widened the scope of the problem: even when a resident is on Enhanced Barrier Precautions or Transmission Based Precautions, she had not wiped down the equipment afterward. She had been moving the same lift from resident to resident without sanitizing it.
Enhanced Barrier Precautions are used for residents who carry or are at risk of spreading certain resistant organisms. The precautions exist precisely because shared equipment can move pathogens between people.
Forty minutes later, inspectors watched it happen again. Staff H and Staff I performed a mechanical lift transfer for Resident 2, a resident whose room was marked with Enhanced Barrier Precautions signage on the door. During the transfer, fluid dripped from the resident's seated area onto the floor. It appeared to be urine. The lift's wheels rolled through it.
When the transfer was done, Staff I moved the lift into the hallway. Uncleaned. The lift sat there until 11:15 AM, when Staff I moved it directly into another resident's room. Still uncleaned.
At 10:45 AM, between those two observations, Staff I told inspectors that shared mechanical lifts at the facility are not sanitized between uses every time. She said there used to be sanitizing wipes stocked in baskets on the lifts. Now none of the lifts have them. She said she had not seen other staff cleaning the lifts, and she had not cleaned them herself, including after use on residents under Enhanced Barrier Precautions.
The next morning, the Director of Nursing told inspectors that the expectation is that mechanical lifts be cleaned and sanitized after each use and before being used on another resident. The facility's own policies, including a Total Lift Transfer policy last reviewed in November 2022 and a Hospital Clean policy with no date, both required disinfecting lift surfaces between residents.
The expectation existed on paper. The wipes did not exist on the lifts.
What inspectors documented was not a one-time lapse or a single staff member cutting a corner. Two separate CNAs, working with two separate residents, on the same morning, described the same gap: no supplies, no training, no practice of cleaning between uses. One of those residents was under the kind of precautions that exist specifically to keep pathogens from traveling on shared equipment to the next person down the hall.
The lift that rolled through the urine on the floor of Resident 2's room was the same lift that went into another resident's room forty-five minutes later.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Regency Care Center from 2025-08-20 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
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: September 22, 2026 · Our methodology
Regency Care Center in Norwalk, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 20, 2025.
The first incident inspectors observed happened at 9:40 that morning.
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.