Wapello Specialty Care is a nursing home in Wapello, Iowa, that provides skilled nursing, long-term care, memory care, hospice, respite, and rehabilitation services. The facility is licensed for up to 46 or 49 residents, depending on the source, and has a team of more than 70 staff members that offer help with things like bathing, dressing, transfers, and medication management. Rehabilitation therapy for both short and long-term needs is available onsite, and the community is known for creating personalized treatment plans to help with mobility and recovery from injuries, using a team of skilled professionals in a physical therapy facility. Many residents need help with transferring and toileting, and about a third have dementia or are confined to bed or wheelchair. Wapello Specialty Care is part of Care Initiatives, the largest nonprofit senior care provider in Iowa.
Residents have access to amenities like a beauty salon, a dining room with restaurant-style meals, kitchenette areas, housekeeping, Wi-Fi, cable or satellite TV, a small library, a garden, terrace, and other outdoor sitting spaces. There are daily scheduled activities and recreation, mental wellness programs, diabetes nutrition plans, and staff on hand at all times with a 24-hour call system and supervision. The facility offers transportation services as well as help coordinating move-in for new residents.
Wapello Specialty Care has had some challenges in staffing and inspections. In 2024, residents got an average of 3.29 hours of care a day, including 2.09 hours from certified nursing assistants, but about a third of days that year and over half of days in some previous years didn't meet the recommended CNA staffing threshold. The facility received the lowest overall and health inspection ratings for many months in recent years, including 25 months with the lowest inspection rating between August 2022 and January 2025, and 27 straight months with the worst overall rating as of January 2025. The nursing home has had several written deficiencies since 2013 and has been named on the NHAA Watchlist for causing actual harm to residents. Despite its modern amenities and range of services, these records are part of the history at Wapello Specialty Care and may be important to consider.
