Monroe Rehabilitation Center: Snake Found in Hallway - NC
No residents were in the hallway. The closest resident room was 63 feet from the dining room door where the snake appeared.
Nurse #1, who told inspectors she was from the country and recognized the snake as a copperhead, sent a group text to the administrator and the director of nursing at 9 p.m. to report what she had seen. The administrator asked her to send a photo. She told him the snake was already gone.
That same night, the administrator said, a contracted pest control technician had already treated the building and informed the facility's receptionist that the wildlife department had been notified to treat for snakes. The following morning, the maintenance director walked the exterior of the building and the administrator conducted an interior inspection. Neither found any additional snakes.
Four days later, on August 29, a wildlife department technician surveyed the building inside and out. He found no snakes and no mice. He applied snake deterrent around every exterior door. In a phone interview with inspectors on September 12, the technician said the deterrent had not been applied inside the building. He told inspectors the treatment should last four to six months and recommended the facility consider reapplying in the spring. He also encouraged staff to keep the exterior grounds and interior rooms and offices clean to avoid attracting the pests that draw snakes in the first place.
The administrator told inspectors he did not believe there had been a resident safety concern. The snakes, he said, had not been close to any resident when observed and had been removed immediately. He said no further sightings had occurred since the wildlife technician applied the exterior deterrent.
The maintenance director told inspectors the facility had not had snake repellent materials of its own to apply to the building's exterior.
What inspectors found when they arrived told a different story about how seriously the gap problem had been addressed. The regional president of operations told inspectors on September 11 that a repairman had been scheduled to come to the facility that same day to close a half-inch open space at the bottom of the two front entrance doors, a gap where pests could enter the building.
The next day, September 12, inspectors looked at the front doors themselves. When the two doors were closed, the gap was still there. Inspectors noted it was large enough for a snake to pass through.
The violation was cited at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting some residents. It was the only deficiency recorded in this complaint inspection.
The administrator's position, stated plainly, was that because no resident had been near the snake and the snake had been removed, there was no safety concern. The gap at the front door, still open more than two weeks after the snake was found and one day after a repairman was supposedly scheduled to close it, was a harder argument to make.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Monroe Rehabilitation Center from 2025-09-30 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: June 26, 2026 · Our methodology
Monroe Rehabilitation Center in Monroe, NC was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 30, 2025.
No residents were in the hallway.
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.