Cedarwood Plaza: Sanitation Violations Found - OH
Inspectors visited Cedarwood Plaza nursing home on August 30, 2025, responding to a complaint unrelated to what they found outside. When they walked the dumpster area with a dietary aide that morning, they documented what had accumulated there: used plastic gloves, plastic silverware, paper plates with food still on them, brown bags, loose plastic debris scattered across the ground. A cardboard box sat roughly fifteen feet in front of the dumpster, flattened and torn from being run over by vehicles what appeared to be multiple times.
To the right of the dumpster was a grease barrel, the kind commercial kitchens use to collect excess oil and cooking grease. It was open. A stock pot of water had been placed on top of it, but the barrel itself was not sealed.
The dietary aide, identified in inspection records only as DA #750, was present for the walkthrough at 9:45 a.m. and confirmed what inspectors observed.
The facility had 104 residents at the time of the inspection.
Inspectors classified the violation as representing minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and noted it as an incidental finding, meaning they discovered it while investigating a separate complaint. The complaint that brought them to Cedarwood Plaza that day, logged under complaint number 2569014, was not described in this portion of the report.
The debris field and open grease barrel were documented on page two of the inspection form and listed as having the potential to affect all 104 residents living in the facility.
An open grease barrel creates conditions that attract pests. Rodents and insects drawn to accumulated food waste and cooking grease can move from an exterior area into a building, including into a kitchen that serves a population of more than a hundred people, many of whom may have compromised immune systems or limited ability to withstand foodborne illness. The inspection report did not document whether pests had been observed, only that the conditions existed.
What the report does describe is specific enough. Plastic gloves used and discarded in the open. Paper plates with visible food residue left outside rather than inside the dumpster. A box that had been on the ground long enough to be run over repeatedly. These are not conditions that appear overnight.
The dietary aide who walked the area with inspectors did not dispute any of it.
Cedarwood Plaza is a nursing facility in Cleveland Heights serving over a hundred residents. The August 30 inspection was complaint-driven, not a routine annual survey, which means inspectors arrived with a specific concern already documented. The dumpster area was an additional problem they encountered while they were there.
The inspection form notes the deficiency was incidental. That word carries a particular weight in this context. It means the facility's exterior sanitation condition was not what anyone came looking for. It was simply what was there when they looked.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Cedarwood Plaza from 2025-08-30 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.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 27, 2026 · Our methodology
CEDARWOOD PLAZA in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 30, 2025.
Inspectors visited Cedarwood Plaza nursing home on August 30, 2025, responding to a complaint unrelated to what they found outside.
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.