Highland Square Nursing: Crumbling Walls, Holes - OH
That moment, documented by federal inspectors at Highland Square Nursing and Rehabilitation on August 19, captures something larger about the state of the 64-bed facility. What inspectors found that day, and the next, was a building coming apart around the people living in it, room by room, floor by floor.
The tour began at 10:12 a.m. and lasted less than 20 minutes. In that time, inspectors walking with the administrator recorded soiled carpet throughout the first floor, dried pink and yellow paint caked on the bottom of one resident's door, a large pink stain on the floor near another resident's room, and peeling wallpaper in the hallway. The administrator confirmed each finding as they moved through the building.
In Resident 44's room, the ceiling in the right corner near the window was covered in multiple large brown water stains with paint peeling away from them. The baseboard behind the bed was bulging out from the wall. The wallpaper behind the bed was ripped.
The damage in Resident 7's room was worse. When inspectors returned at 12:31 p.m., they found the baseboard behind his bed barely attached to the wall. Behind it, the wall itself was crumbling, with multiple holes and exposed foam. The administrator, interviewed eight minutes later, confirmed what inspectors were looking at.
A baseball-sized hole sat in the bottom of the wall in the shared room of Residents 27 and 46, near where the television stand was positioned. A certified nursing assistant confirmed it the following morning. Nobody in the inspection record offered an explanation for how long it had been there.
The ceiling in Resident 36's room had drawn attention earlier. At 10:00 a.m., inspectors observed a half-basketball-sized bubble of plaster and paint, broken open at the center. The Assistant Director of Nursing was present and confirmed it, but said she wasn't sure how long it had been there because she was rarely on that unit. By the time inspectors returned with the administrator during the tour, the bubble was gone. He had broken it off. A ring of plaster and paint remained on the ceiling. To the left of the air conditioning unit, the wallpaper was peeling. To the lower right, the wallpaper was torn and pieces of the wall had crumbled away.
The elevators had long scratches running down both walls. The floor of one had multiple areas of missing flooring and was visibly dirty. The silver grooves at the entrance to both elevators were heavily soiled.
On the third floor, heavy black marks ran from the elevator exit through the walkway past the nurses' station and continued into Resident 63's room. The walls of that walkway were heavily scuffed with dark markings. The second floor walkway near its nurses' station was heavily scuffed, scratched, and dirty. Near one resident's room, wallpaper was pulling away from the wall at the seams, with a baseball-sized patched hole that had torn open.
Inspectors cited the deficiency as affecting eight residents directly and carrying the potential to affect all 64. The harm level was listed as minimal or potential for actual harm.
The facility's own housekeeping policy, last revised in June 2009, states that walls in resident areas will be cleaned when visibly soiled or contaminated. It says floors will be cleaned on a regular basis and when spills occur. The inspection record does not indicate the policy had been followed in any of the areas documented.
The Assistant Director of Nursing said she was rarely on the unit where the ceiling had been bubbling. The administrator walked through the building confirming finding after finding. At the end of the tour, the crumbling wall behind Resident 7's bed was still crumbling, the hole in Residents 27 and 46's room was still open, and the ring of plaster on Resident 36's ceiling was still there.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Highland Square Nursing and Rehabilitation from 2025-08-20 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
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 22, 2026 · Our methodology
HIGHLAND SQUARE NURSING AND REHABILITATION in AKRON, OH was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 20, 2025.
What inspectors found that day, and the next, was a building coming apart around the people living in it, room by room, floor by floor.
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.