The scene at Interlochen Health and Rehabilitation Center on January 29 captured a facility-wide pest problem that had nurses pulling meal trays from residents' rooms and staff scrambling to manage an infestation they couldn't control.
Resident #2, whose room sits at the south end of Hall 200, watched as a state surveyor counted three gnats buzzing around her and five more hovering near her sink. She told the inspector that gnats bothered her and had become a regular topic of conversation with anyone entering her room.
"Oh yeah," she said when asked if the gnats bothered her.
The resident said she had reported the problem to staff and believed her room had been sprayed. But the treatment hadn't worked.
Throughout Hall 200, inspectors documented gnats at every turn. One gnat flew around the hallway's south end at 9:48 a.m. Another circled the north end just before 12:30 p.m. A third buzzed around the nurses' station minutes later.
LVN I, a licensed vocational nurse working the hall, had seen the gnats too. She told inspectors she was supposed to alert housekeeping when she spotted the insects in resident rooms. Pest control had sprayed chemicals that worked temporarily, she said, but the gnats returned.
The nurse understood the risks. Gnats could fly into residents' mouths, noses, and hair, she explained. They could get on residents' skin.
Her colleague, LVN J, had witnessed gnats landing directly on residents' food. She described finding the insects on a meal tray in a resident's room and immediately removing it. When gnats appeared on food, she pulled the entire tray from the room rather than let residents eat.
"Maybe food in the resident rooms was an issue," she told inspectors.
LVN J said the gnats might bite residents or make them lose their appetite entirely. She reported pest problems to the administrator and said pest control came when called, but the response wasn't preventing new infestations.
The administrator acknowledged the facility had been "actively treating the gnats" but admitted it remained "a known issue." A pest control company had recently visited and left treatment supplies for staff to use, she said. The situation had improved slightly, but staff were instructed to notify the pest control company whenever they spotted gnats during rounds.
Despite the ongoing problem and multiple staff interviews about pest control procedures, Interlochen couldn't produce basic documentation when inspectors requested it. The facility failed to provide either a comprehensive pest control policy or any pest control logs.
Instead, administrators offered only a food service department policy from 2012 that covered insect and rodent control in kitchen areas. The narrow policy promised "an effective pest control program" for the food service department alone, with regular spraying arrangements, proper screening, and sanitation measures to prevent pest access.
But the policy didn't address the gnats plaguing resident rooms and hallways throughout the building.
The inspection revealed a facility where pest control had become reactive rather than preventive. Staff members had developed informal protocols, like removing contaminated meal trays and reporting sightings to housekeeping, but lacked the systematic approach needed to eliminate the infestation.
Residents like #2 lived with the daily reality of insects in their personal spaces. She had grown accustomed to discussing gnats with visitors, a conversation that shouldn't be necessary in a healthcare setting designed to promote healing and comfort.
The federal citation noted that pest control failures could "place residents at risk of infestation of pests and compromise resident health." For residents already vulnerable due to age and medical conditions, even small insects represented a threat to their wellbeing and dignity.
While the administrator promised continued treatment efforts, the inspection documented a facility where gnats had established themselves as permanent residents, buzzing around vulnerable people who had nowhere else to go.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Interlochen Health and Rehabilitation Center from 2026-01-29 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
- View all inspection reports for Interlochen Health and Rehabilitation Center
- Browse all TX nursing home inspections