Claridge Healthcare: Elopement Immediate Jeopardy - IL
The September 2025 complaint inspection at Claridge Healthcare Center found that the conditions put a small number of residents at risk of elopement, meaning they could leave the building unsupervised and undetected. Inspectors documented that the elevator, which should have served as a security checkpoint, was not operating with its safety system intact.
The facility's own elopement risk policy required nonscheduled staff to monitor the elevator. That wasn't happening consistently. Staff had not been trained on the procedures before showing up to work shifts where that monitoring responsibility fell to them.
Claridge's response, submitted to inspectors, committed to completing in-service training for all staff on the elopement risk policy before any worker started a shift, whether through group sessions or one-on-one training delivered by nursing administration. The facility set a deadline of September 16, 2025, four days after the inspection.
The director of nursing, or her designee, was assigned to conduct random audits of sign-in logs every shift until the elevator security system is repaired. The medical director was notified and brought into the quality assurance process.
What the inspection record does not show is when the elevator system broke, how long it had been out of service before someone filed a complaint, or whether any resident had already left the building unsupervised during that window. Those questions remain unanswered in the public record.
The facility said progress would be reviewed at a quality assurance meeting. For residents whose safety depends on a working elevator and trained staff, that meeting can't come soon enough.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Claridge Healthcare Center from 2025-09-12 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
CLARIDGE HEALTHCARE CENTER in LAKE BLUFF, IL was cited for immediate jeopardy violations during a health inspection on September 12, 2025.
Inspectors documented that the elevator, which should have served as a security checkpoint, was not operating with its safety system intact.
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.