Where They Care · plain answers about nursing homes

Brandon Woods of New Bedford

397 County Street, New Bedford, MA 02740 · 135 beds · For profit - Individual

The records flag: Medicare's abuse flag is set; 3 citations at the most serious level; A Special Focus candidate.

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

Medicare overall rating
Much below average · 1 of 5
All nursing staff, hours / resident
4.43
RNs, LPNs and aides · state average 3.90
Weekend RN coverage
−5%
vs weekdays
Staff turnover
50%
state average 38%
Medicare's abuse flag is set
Medicare marks facilities cited for abuse on its own comparison site. This one is currently marked.
3 citations 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.
A Special Focus candidate
Medicare lists this facility as a candidate for its increased-oversight programme — not on the list itself, but flagged as being near it.
$464,490 in fines over three years
Medicare fines facilities when inspection findings are severe or go uncorrected.

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
0.37 hrs
Weekends
0.35 hrs
MA average
0.66 hrs

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

Slightly less nurse coverage at weekends — about 5% lower.

Staff turnover: 50%

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 80 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
3
Actual harm
A resident was harmed, without immediate danger to life
5
Potential for harm
No one harmed yet, but conditions could allow it
63
No harm
Rule and paperwork findings
9

2 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 $464,490 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
Romano, Frank Managing employee, Corporate director, Corporate officer 02/27/1966
Romano, James Managing employee 06/25/2013
Romano, Katelyn Managing employee 05/08/2017
Romano, Kyle Managing employee 01/17/2010

Of the 4 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
Vantage Health & Rehab of New Bedford
New Bedford
0.6 1 0.36 −16%
Sacred Heart Nursing Home
New Bedford
1.2 5 0.73 −34%
Brandon Woods of Dartmouth
South Dartmouth
1.4 2 0.52 −34%
Royal of Fairhaven Nursing Center
Fairhaven
1.5 2
Our Ladys Haven of Fairhaven INC
Fairhaven
1.6 5 0.98 −31%
Hathaway Manor Extended Care
New Bedford
2.3 2 0.60 −31%
Alden Court Nursing Care & Rehabilitation Center
Fairhaven
2.7 4 0.49 −52%
Care One at New Bedford
New Bedford
4.8 3 0.76 −42%

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. Turnover here is about 50%. How long has the director of nursing been in post?
  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.