Where They Care · plain answers about nursing homes

Good Samaritan - Forest City

606 South Seventh Street, Forest City, IA 50436 · 43 beds · Non profit - Church related

The records flag: 1 citation at the most serious level.

Everything here comes from Medicare's own inspection and payroll records. We don't rank facilities or take payment from them.

Medicare overall rating
★★★★
Above average · 4 of 5
All nursing staff, hours / resident
3.77
RNs, LPNs and aides · state average 4.37
Weekend RN coverage
−38%
vs weekdays
Staff turnover
31%
state average 44%
1 citation at the most serious level
Inspectors judged that residents were placed in danger of serious injury or death. See the inspection section for dates and whether each was corrected.

These are drawn straight from Medicare's records. We report what the record says — we don't rate facilities or judge the care given in them.

Who's actually on the floor

Staffing is the thing most closely tied to day-to-day quality of care, and it's the number families most often never see. This is registered nurses only — a smaller figure than the all-staff total above, because it counts the most highly qualified staff on their own — per resident, per day, comparing an average weekday against an average weekend.

Weekdays
0.95 hrs
Weekends
0.59 hrs
IA average
0.85 hrs

Registered nurses only — hours per resident per day. Longer is better.

Registered nurse coverage drops about 38% at weekends.

Staff turnover: 31%

High turnover matters because continuity does — a nurse who knows your mother notices when something is different about her. Someone on their second shift doesn't have that baseline.

What inspectors found

State inspectors visit at least once a year and after complaints. Over the last three years this facility received 9 citations. Raw counts mislead, though — a paperwork slip and a resident being harmed both count as one. Here they are by how serious inspectors judged them.

SeverityCitations
Immediate jeopardy
Residents placed at risk of serious injury or death
1
Actual harm
A resident was harmed, without immediate danger to life
1
Potential for harm
No one harmed yet, but conditions could allow it
7
No harm
Rule and paperwork findings
0

3 of these came from someone filing a complaint rather than a routine visit — worth weighing differently, because it means a person picked up the phone. All findings are recorded as corrected.

Medicare has issued $25,945 in fines here over the past three years.

Disclosed affiliations

Medicare requires every facility to disclose the people and companies connected to it. Most names below are not owners — they are officers, directors, managers, trustees, and what Medicare calls “additional disclosable parties.” The role beside each name is the one Medicare recorded. This is worth reading because operators tend to run their facilities alike: where the same group stands behind a dozen homes, the record across all twelve tells you more than any single inspection does.

NameRole recorded by MedicareSince
Brink, Holly Managing employee 11/20/2022
Carlson, Byron Managing employee (contracted) 05/01/2023
Middleton, Aimee Managing employee, Corporate officer 01/27/2022
Morrison, Tony Managing employee 01/01/2019
The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society Operational or managerial control 01/01/2019
Cain, James Corporate director 05/30/2024
Dykhouse, Dana Corporate director 05/30/2024
Engbrecht, Wesley Corporate director 05/30/2024
Fluit, Joel Corporate officer 10/01/2022
Gassen, William Corporate director, Corporate officer 05/30/2024
Gulsvig, Neil Corporate director 05/30/2024
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie Corporate director 05/30/2024
Lundeen, Mark Corporate director 05/30/2024
Molbert, Lauris Corporate director 05/30/2024
North, Andrew Corporate director 05/30/2024
Olson, Nicholas Corporate officer 04/08/2024
Rogers, Michael Corporate officer 06/13/2022
Schema, Nathan Corporate officer 01/01/2022
Shulkin, David Corporate director 05/30/2024
Teiken, Brent Corporate director 05/30/2024
Ventling-Herrmann, Marnie Corporate director 05/30/2024

Of the 21 parties disclosed here, 0 hold an ownership interest; the rest are recorded in a management, officer, financial, or other disclosable capacity. A percentage is shown only where Medicare published one — for most disclosed parties it publishes none.

Other options nearby

Most families are choosing between whatever is close enough to visit often — and visiting often is itself one of the better protections a resident has. These are the closest 8 facilities.

FacilityMilesRating Nurse hrsWeekend
Concord Care Center
Garner
11.7 5 0.57 −34%
Westview Care Center
Britt
14.3 5 0.41 −46%
Oakwood Care Center
Clear Lake
14.9 3 0.53 −33%
Lake Mills Care Center
Lake Mills
16.7 4 0.39 −36%
Timely Mission Nursing Home
Buffalo Center
18.0 5 0.62 −23%
Titonka Care Center
Titonka
20.4 5 1.37 −43%
Manly Specialty Care
Manly
22.5 3 1.22 −58%
I O O F Home and Community Therapy Center
Mason City
23.1 1 0.51 −66%

Weekend column shows the change in registered-nurse coverage at weekends compared with weekdays.

Worth asking on a visit

Records only tell you so much. These are the questions this facility's particular numbers suggest you ask — go on a weekend if you possibly can.

  1. Can I visit on a Sunday rather than a weekday? How many registered nurses are on duty then, and for how many residents?
  2. Medicare's records show a citation at the most serious level. What happened, and what changed afterwards?
  3. Who will actually be caring for my relative at 3am on a Saturday — an agency nurse or someone on staff?

Where these numbers come from

All figures are published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Different measures cover different periods — some are considerably older than others, so each is dated separately below rather than under one "last updated" stamp.

Staffing hours
Jan–Mar 2026
Staff turnover
calendar year 2025
Inspections & citations
Jul 2023 – Jun 2026
Fines & penalties
last 3 years
Ownership
as reported to Medicare
Star rating & file release
CMS file dated 1 July 2026

We report what the records say and don't draw conclusions about care quality. If you believe something on this page is wrong — email a correction. It reaches a person, not a form. We check every report, fix what is wrong, and say so on the page; see how we handle corrections. If you work at this facility and our figures disagree with your own records, we want to hear that too.