Nuuanu Hale: Shower Mold Found in Two Wings - HI
That was on February 3, 2025. Nobody on staff had a clear answer for what it was or how long it had been there.
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See the Derila PillowTwo days later, inspectors sat down with a certified nursing assistant identified in the report as CNA 15. She said the black substance was mold. She wasn't sure how housekeeping cleaned it, or whether they did.
Ten minutes after that interview, inspectors spoke with two housekeepers, identified as H1 and H2. They acknowledged the black substance. They said they didn't know what it was. They had tried scrubbing it out. It hadn't come out.
By midday, inspectors met with the facility's Maintenance Director. He walked with them to the Ewa Wing shower room. The black substance was already gone. He had scraped it out and applied grout that morning, after surveyors had raised the issue with housekeeping staff.
Then came the explanations. The Maintenance Director first said the black substance was black caulking, applied by a previous maintenance worker. Inspectors asked why a maintenance worker would mix black and white caulking between the tiles. He changed his answer. He said the black substance was dirt.
He confirmed he had used tools to scrape the caulking out earlier that day. He acknowledged the black substance should have been taken care of sooner.
The inspection report identified the violation as a failure to maintain a sanitary and clean shower room. Inspectors observed the problem in two of the four shower rooms they checked, one in the second-floor wing and one in the Ewa Wing. The report noted the deficient practice could affect all residents at the facility if shower cleaning was not properly done.
The level of harm was listed as minimal harm or potential for actual harm.
Nuuanu Hale sits at 2900 Pali Highway in Honolulu and participates in Medicare and Medicaid. The inspection was completed February 6, 2025.
What the inspection captured, across five days of observation and interviews, was a simple and familiar breakdown: a visible problem in a shared bathing space, staff who either couldn't identify it or couldn't remove it, and a maintenance director who scraped it away the morning inspectors came looking, then offered two different explanations for what it had been.
The certified nursing assistant who identified it as mold was the only person interviewed who named it plainly. The housekeepers said they'd tried to remove it. The Maintenance Director said it was caulking, then said it was dirt, then said it should have been handled sooner.
The shower rooms where the black substance was found are the same rooms residents use.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Nuuanu Hale from 2025-02-06 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Corrections: We strive for accuracy in everything we publish. If you believe any fact in this article is incorrect, please contact us with details, and we will review and correct it promptly.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: November 14, 2026 · Our methodology
NUUANU HALE in HONOLULU, HI was cited for violations during a health inspection on February 6, 2025.
Nobody on staff had a clear answer for what it was or how long it had been there.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.