Cherokee Trails Nursing Home
330 E. Bagley Rd., Rusk, TX 75785 · Cherokee County · 140 certified beds · avg 50 residents/day · certified since Aug 1, 2000
2/5
Health inspection rating (on-site)
1
Serious findings on record
$30,933
Fines, last 3 years
3.96
Nurse hours/resident/day (adjusted)
What health inspectors found (on-site government inspections — the most independent evidence available)
Health inspection rating: ★★☆☆☆2/5 · CMS overall rating: 2/5
The health inspection star above is graded on a curve within each state — a set share of each state's facilities gets each star level — so a facility can have few citations and still rate 2–3 stars if others in its state did even better. The overall rating combines that inspection score with staffing and self-reported quality measures.
Most serious findings (actual harm or immediate jeopardy)
▲ Immediate jeopardy, one-off · Sep 25, 2024 · F-0689 · triggered by a complaint
The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls.
Why it matters: This is one of the most common citations and directly relates to falls and injuries, which can be devastating for older adults.
Severity (J): Inspectors found a situation that put a resident's life or safety in immediate danger, affecting one or a few residents. The facility must fix it immediately — these citations often come with large fines.
Corrected: Sep 26, 2024 (Deficient, Provider has date of correction)
All citations in the current public record (38)
CMS publishes roughly the last three inspection cycles plus recent complaint investigations. Older surveys drop out of the record as new ones are completed.
| Date | Severity | What the facility was cited for |
|---|---|---|
| May 20, 2026 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls. |
| May 20, 2026 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not label drugs according to professional standards or did not store them in locked compartments, with controlled drugs (medications with a high risk of misuse) kept under a separate lock. |
| May 20, 2026 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not get its food from approved, safe sources, or did not store, prepare, and serve food according to professional food safety standards. |
| May 20, 2026 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not keep its building and grounds safe, functional, clean, and comfortable for residents, staff, and visitors. |
| May 20, 2026 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not enter each resident's assessment information into the required format and send it to the state within 7 days of completing the assessment, as the rules require. |
| May 20, 2026 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not accurately assess a resident's health and needs. Assessments are the foundation for all the care a resident receives. |
| May 20, 2026 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not have or follow an effective program to prevent and control infections — such as proper hand washing, cleaning, and isolation practices. This is the most commonly cited deficiency nationwide. |
| Feb 11, 2026 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not treat residents with dignity and respect, or did not honor their rights to make their own decisions and communicate freely. This is one of the most fundamental resident rights. · from a complaint |
| Mar 19, 2025 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment, including safe support for residents' daily living needs. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not develop or maintain an effective training program for its direct care staff, including training on how to communicate effectively with residents. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide its staff with training in compliance and ethics — teaching employees the laws and ethical standards that govern how residents must be treated. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide its staff with required training on behavioral health — caring for residents with conditions like dementia, depression, or other mental health needs. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not have or follow an effective program to prevent and control infections — such as proper hand washing, cleaning, and isolation practices. This is the most commonly cited deficiency nationwide. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not develop, carry out, or maintain an effective training program for all new and existing staff members. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not train its staff on dementia care and on recognizing and reporting abuse, neglect, and exploitation. |
| Mar 19, 2025 | C · Minimal risk, facility-wide | The facility did not post its nurse staffing information every day. Nursing homes must publicly display how many nurses and aides are on duty each day. |
| Sep 25, 2024 | ▲ J · Immediate jeopardy, one-off | The facility did not keep the environment free of accident hazards, or did not provide enough supervision to prevent accidents like falls. · from a complaint |
| Sep 25, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility employed staff who were not licensed, certified, or registered as required by state law. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not get its food from approved, safe sources, or did not store, prepare, and serve food according to professional food safety standards. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not electronically submit complete and accurate staffing information to the government, based on payroll and other verifiable records. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | F · Potential for harm, facility-wide | The facility did not maintain an effective pest control program to prevent or deal with mice, insects, or other pests. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not have or follow an effective program to prevent and control infections — such as proper hand washing, cleaning, and isolation practices. This is the most commonly cited deficiency nationwide. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not have policies on smoking. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not develop, carry out, or maintain an effective training program for all new and existing staff members. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not develop or maintain an effective training program for its direct care staff, including training on how to communicate effectively with residents. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not educate its staff on residents' rights and the facility's responsibilities toward residents. Staff can only respect rights they've been taught about. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not train its staff on dementia care and on recognizing and reporting abuse, neglect, and exploitation. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not give all staff the required training on its quality improvement program — the internal system for finding problems and making care better. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not include required infection control training — with written standards, policies, and procedures — as part of its infection prevention program. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide its staff with training in compliance and ethics — teaching employees the laws and ethical standards that govern how residents must be treated. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not make sure its nurse aides had the skills needed to care for residents, including training in dementia care and abuse prevention. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | E · Potential for harm, repeated | The facility did not provide its staff with required training on behavioral health — caring for residents with conditions like dementia, depression, or other mental health needs. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment, including safe support for residents' daily living needs. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not provide safe and appropriate respiratory care — such as oxygen, breathing treatments, or care for residents on breathing equipment — for residents who needed it. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not prepare and serve food in a form that meets each resident's individual needs — for example, chopped, pureed, or softened food for residents with chewing or swallowing problems. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not make sure special medical diets — like low-sodium or diabetic diets — were properly ordered by the resident's doctor or managed by a qualified dietitian as state law allows. · from a complaint |
| Feb 7, 2024 | D · Potential for harm, one-off | The facility did not have a policy covering how food brought in by family and visitors is used and stored safely. · from a complaint |
Inspection trend by year
Citations from standard inspections stayed about the same across the last two inspection cycles (9 → 7).
| Year | Citations | Serious (G–L) | Worst severity that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 21 | 1 | J ▲ |
| 2025 | 9 | 0 | E |
| 2026 | 8 | 0 | E |
Counts reflect the current CMS public record (~3 inspection cycles plus complaint investigations); years with no surveys show no row. Inspection frequency varies, so compare severity as well as counts.
Fines and enforcement (last 3 years)
1 fine totaling $30,933.
| Date | Type | Amount / length |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2024 | Fine | $30,933 |
Nurse staffing (from payroll records, adjusted for how much care residents need)
| Measure | This facility | Texas avg | U.S. avg | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total nurse staffing (hours per resident per day) | 3.96 | 3.46 | 3.95 | top 16% in Texas; top 41% in the U.S. |
| Registered Nurse hours | 0.45 | 0.44 | 0.69 | top 35% in Texas; bottom 29% in the U.S. |
| Weekend total nurse staffing | 3.46 | 3.04 | 3.50 | top 18% in Texas; top 44% in the U.S. |
| Weekend RN hours (not acuity-adjusted) | 0.26 | 0.34 | 0.48 | bottom 42% in Texas; bottom 24% in the U.S. |
| Total nursing staff turnover (%) | 65.3 | 55.3 | 45.8 | bottom 25% in Texas; bottom 10% in the U.S. |
| RN turnover (%) | 66.7 | 54.6 | 42.9 | bottom 34% in Texas; bottom 15% in the U.S. |
Hours are per resident per day, case-mix adjusted by CMS so facilities caring for sicker residents can be compared fairly (same basis as the CMS staffing star). "Top X%" means better than most facilities: more staffing hours, or lower turnover. Raw (unadjusted) reported hours: total 3.22, RN 0.36, weekend 2.81. Staffing rating: 2/5.
Self-reported quality measures
Note: these ratings are based on data the facility reports about itself to CMS. They are not independently verified by inspectors, and can look better than inspection findings. Give more weight to the inspection results above.
Quality measures rating: 4/5 · long-stay residents: 4/5 · short-stay residents: —/5
Who owns this facility
Government - Hospital district
| Owner / manager | Type | Role | Stake | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor County Hospital District | Organization | 5% or Greater Direct Ownership Interest | 100% | 06/01/2023 |
| Cherokee Trails HC LLC | Organization | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2023 |
| Hardin, Leslie | Individual | Corporate Officer | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2023 |
| Lyons, Paula | Individual | W-2 Managing Employee | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2023 |
| Silberstein, Ari | Individual | Operational/Managerial Control | NOT APPLICABLE | 06/01/2023 |
Questions to ask on your visit
Generated from this facility's actual citation record — bring them to a tour and ask the administrator directly.
- "What is your falls rate, and what specific steps do you take to prevent falls and supervise residents at risk?"
- "Can you show me how medications are stored and secured on the units, including controlled drugs?"
- "What did your most recent kitchen inspection find, and can I see how food is stored and prepared?"
- "Can we tour the whole building today, including resident bathrooms and common areas, not just the lobby?"
- "How do you make sure resident assessments are completed and submitted to the state on time?"
- "Who completes resident assessments here, and how do you check them for accuracy?"
- "Who leads your infection prevention program, and how do you make sure staff follow practices like hand hygiene every day?"
- "Can you give me examples of how your staff protect residents' dignity in everyday care, like bathing and dressing?"
- "What is your current ratio of nursing staff to residents on day, evening, and weekend shifts?"
- "Can I see the results and plan of correction from your most recent state inspection?"
Nearby facilities (within 20 miles)
| Facility | Distance | City | Overall | Inspection | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Arbors Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center | 2.5 mi | Rusk, TX | ★★☆☆☆ | 3/5 | |
| Legacy at Jacksonville | 11.9 mi | Jacksonville, TX | ★★★☆☆ | 4/5 | |
| Avir at Jacksonville | 12.6 mi | Jacksonville, TX | ★★★★★ | 5/5 | |
| Twin Oaks Health & Rehabilitation Center | 14.3 mi | Jacksonville, TX | ★★☆☆☆ | 3/5 |
Compare this facility with the 3 closest →
Facility data as of CMS processing date 2026-08-01. CCN 675835.