F0925

F

Failure to Maintain Effective Pest Control Across All Units

Denver, Colorado Survey Completed on 01-21-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The facility failed to maintain an effective pest control program to keep resident rooms free from mice on two of three units. The facility’s pest control policy required an environment free of pests, frequent contracted treatments, allowance for additional visits when problems were detected, and prompt reporting of pest control problems by staff. Despite this, a grievance submitted at the end of December documented mouse feces in a resident’s dresser drawers and on the resident’s clothes and bed, with the resident’s representative personally cleaning the drawers and taking clothes home to wash. The representative reported seeing mice frequently in the resident’s room and stated that there were no traps in the room as of a few days prior to the interview, and that management had provided little to no response despite multiple grievances.

The NHA acknowledged receiving the written grievance about mice several days after it was filed and did not initiate housekeeping inspection of the affected unit until nearly a week after the grievance date. The NHA reported that the pest control company had previously been visiting only once per month and that an additional extermination contract was signed later, after the grievance, with the pest control company assessing the building and determining that mice were present only on one of three units. The pest control specialist confirmed that although the contract for extra work was signed, there was about a one‑week delay before traps were actually set, and that the initial mitigation plan and trap placement were limited to a single unit (rooms four through 30) on one side of the building. The specialist also stated that he had identified likely entry points near heater and air conditioner units but had not yet communicated these locations to the NHA.

Multiple residents and staff reported ongoing mouse activity outside the unit initially targeted by the pest control plan. One resident reported a mouse caught in her bathroom and another reported a mouse caught in her room, both on a different unit than the one included in the initial mitigation plan, and stated that mice remained a problem throughout the facility despite frequent complaints. During an interview with one of these residents, a live mouse was observed under the resident’s bed, stuck on a glue board and squealing, and the NHA removed it from the room. Additional staff interviews revealed that a housekeeper had found a live mouse in a dirty clothes bin on that same hallway the previous week, a CNA had found and discarded a mouse in the same resident’s room, and an RN reported seeing mice a couple of times per week on her unit, with each sighting entered into the computer system for maintenance. Other residents reported often seeing several mice running up and down the hallway at night and “a lot of mice” in the hallway, including many mice seen just the prior week, demonstrating that mice activity was occurring on more than one unit while the facility’s pest control efforts remained limited and delayed.