Regency Care of Copley: Maggots Found in Resident's Trach - OH
She had never seen anything like it before.
The nurse, identified in the inspection report only as LPN #325, called other staff in to help identify what she was looking at. She tried to reach the nurse practitioner on call. She tried to reach the director of nursing. When she couldn't get through, she recorded video of what was happening to the resident, later identified as Resident #4, so she could show someone in authority what the man needed help with while she waited for orders to clean him up.
The white moving things were maggots.
Federal inspectors from CMS documented the incident at Regency Care of Copley in Akron following a complaint investigation completed August 12, 2025. What they found was not a single lapse but a chain of failures, each one making the next more likely.
Resident #4 cannot speak for himself. He breathes through a tracheostomy, a surgically created opening in his neck. He drools heavily. The area around his stoma and under his trach ties was frequently wet with secretions and drainage, wet enough that the respiratory therapist who visited the facility on Mondays and Fridays often had to change the ties himself because they were already soiled by the time he arrived.
The facility's own tracheostomy care policy, dated March 1, 2025, required trach care at least twice daily. Trach ties were to be changed whenever soiled or wet, and when wet ties were removed, the skin underneath was to be thoroughly dried before new ones were secured. The respiratory therapist confirmed to inspectors that before the maggot incident, Resident #4 had orders for trach care only once a day. The orders weren't changed to twice daily until after the maggots were found, specifically, the RT said, to reiterate to nursing staff that care was getting done.
The other resident in the facility with a tracheostomy still had orders for once-daily care at the time of the inspection.
The window in Resident #4's room had no screen. The facility installed new windows in March 2025. The maintenance worker confirmed to inspectors that Resident #4's room never received a screen before the maggot incident. Staff knew the window was sometimes left open. A CNA who worked with the resident said she had raised the concern herself, that Resident #4 couldn't speak up or brush insects away from himself, and that a wasp had been observed flying into his room. A sign was eventually posted telling staff not to open the window. A second CNA confirmed she had found the window cracked open on arrival to her shifts on multiple occasions and had to close it herself. That went on, she told inspectors, for several months.
A screen was not installed during any of those months.
After the incident, the facility conducted what it described as an investigation. A licensed practical nurse in an investigative role confirmed to inspectors that her work involved speaking with the respiratory therapist and nurses, reviewing policies, and conducting nursing in-services. Those in-services, she said, consisted of providing staff with printed copies of policies when they came in for their shifts. No staff member was asked to demonstrate trach care or suctioning technique. No return demonstration was required.
CNA #302, who was present the night the maggots were found, told inspectors she had not personally observed trach ties being changed during night shifts in the time before the incident. The gauze around the stoma got soiled and nurses would change it when notified, she said, but the ties were a different matter.
Resident #4 cannot describe what those nights felt like. He cannot say how long the dressing had been saturated before someone noticed, or whether he was in pain, or whether he knew something was wrong. The inspection report does not say. What it says is that when the nurse finally reached the director of nursing, it was by sending a video, because calls had gone unanswered, and that the goal at that point was simply to get permission to clean him.
The DON confirmed to inspectors that the trach care orders were increased after the incident. She also confirmed that the facility's own policy had required twice-daily care all along.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Regency Care of Copley from 2025-08-12 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.
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Last verified: October 26, 2026 · Our methodology
REGENCY CARE OF COPLEY in AKRON, OH was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 12, 2025.
She had never seen anything like it before.
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.