The Merriman: Shattered Door Left Unrepaired for Weeks - OH
The Director of Nursing was standing there when the inspector arrived at 8:01 a.m. on November 17. She confirmed the door was broken. She said it had been that way for approximately two weeks.
Eight minutes later, the facility's administrator told the inspector the same thing, more or less, though she said she wasn't sure exactly how long the door had gone unrepaired. She knew it was used by families. She knew it was used by ambulances. She said the facility was aware it needed to be fixed. Quotes had been obtained.
Nothing had been done.
A work request form told a cleaner story than either interview. It was dated October 29, nearly three weeks before the inspector's visit. Someone had written up the broken glass on the ambulance door. Calls had been made to get repair estimates. After that, the form went blank. No follow-up information was available for review.
So the door sat. Shattered glass on the bottom half, in a facility housing 45 residents, on an entrance used by the people who bring residents in on stretchers and the families who come to visit them.
The facility's own policy on maintaining a homelike environment stated that concerns were to be reported and addressed promptly. The concern had been reported on October 29. Promptly is not a word that fits what followed.
The administrator told the inspector she didn't know what had happened to cause the break. That detail sits at the edge of the report without resolution, the way a lot of things at The Merriman apparently sat, waiting.
Inspectors cited the violation as having the potential to affect all 45 residents in the facility. The deficiency was tied to a formal complaint, number 2656875, which means someone, a resident, a family member, a visitor, had already flagged this before inspectors arrived. The facility had been on notice in more ways than one.
The level of harm was classified as minimal harm or potential for actual harm. That classification reflects what inspectors could document, not necessarily what the three weeks of broken glass near an ambulance entrance represented to the people who had to pass by it, or the families who walked through that door not knowing whether the edges had been cleared or cordoned off, because the inspection report doesn't say they had been.
What the report does say is that the door was still broken when the inspector got there. That the nursing director confirmed it without apparent surprise. That the administrator knew about it and couldn't say how long it had been that way, even though a piece of paper in the facility's own files had the answer: October 29.
The Merriman's policy promised residents a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment. It promised housekeeping and maintenance services to keep things orderly. It promised that concerns would be addressed promptly.
The work order sat for nineteen days.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for The Merriman from 2025-11-26 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: August 22, 2026 · Our methodology
THE MERRIMAN in AKRON, OH was cited for violations during a health inspection on November 26, 2025.
The Director of Nursing was standing there when the inspector arrived at 8:01 a.m.
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.