Santa Anita Convalescent Hospital: Rodent Violation - CA
The citation, recorded under F0921, noted that rodents sometimes carry diseases, bacteria, and feces that could get into linen and laundry supplies and cause adverse effects to residents' health and well-being. The facility's own maintenance policy, reviewed as recently as July 1, 2025, stated that the maintenance department is responsible for maintaining the buildings, grounds, and equipment in a safe and operable manner at all times to protect the health and safety of residents, visitors, and staff.
The policy was undated.
Inspectors classified the harm level as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and noted that some residents were affected. That language, in federal inspection terminology, means the problem had not yet produced a documented injury but carried a real risk of one. Sheets, pillowcases, towels, and gowns that pass through a space where rodents have been present, leaving behind feces or bacteria, can carry contamination directly to residents who are already medically vulnerable, many of them elderly, immunocompromised, or recovering from illness and surgery.
The gap between what the maintenance policy promised and what inspectors found is the core of the citation. The facility had a written commitment, freshly reviewed just three months before the inspection, to keep the building safe and operable at all times. The linen and laundry area, where residents' most intimate daily supplies are stored and handled, was not being kept that way.
Santa Anita Convalescent Hospital operates in Temple City under facility ID 055293. The September inspection was triggered by a complaint, meaning someone, whether a resident, a family member, or a staff member, raised a concern serious enough to bring inspectors through the door outside of a routine survey cycle. The inspection record does not identify who filed the complaint or what specifically they reported.
What inspectors documented when they arrived was a facility where the line between the outside world and the supplies that touch residents had broken down. Rodents do not confine themselves. Once inside a building, they move through walls, along pipes, and into storage areas. Their feces are small and easily overlooked. Their presence near laundry and linen is not a minor housekeeping matter; it is a contamination pathway that runs directly to the people the facility is licensed to protect.
The citation carries a harm level of minimal, which in federal inspection language sits near the lower end of the scale. It does not mean harmless. It means inspectors did not find a resident who had already gotten sick from the contaminated supplies. That is a narrow distinction in a building where the same sheets and towels cycle through daily use among people whose immune systems may not withstand what a healthy person could shake off.
The facility's undated maintenance policy is its own detail worth noting. A policy that governs the safety of the building, reviewed in July 2025, carried no original date. That makes it impossible to know how long the document had been in place, whether it had ever been meaningfully updated, or whether the July review was substantive or a signature on a form.
The inspection record ends there. It does not say whether the facility took corrective action during the survey, whether pest control was called, or whether the linen and laundry area was secured. It does not name the administrator on duty or describe what staff said when inspectors raised the finding.
What it leaves behind is a straightforward picture: a nursing home where rodents reached the supplies that go onto residents' bodies, and a maintenance policy that said that should never happen.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Santa Anita Convalescent Hospital from 2025-09-23 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 15, 2026 · Our methodology
SANTA ANITA CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL in TEMPLE CITY, CA was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 23, 2025.
Inspectors classified the harm level as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and noted that some residents were affected.
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.