Family questions cleanliness of hospital rooms at Tristar Centennial

That's what one family assumed until they took a second look during a visit.

The patient had been staying in his room at Tristar Centennial Medical Center for three days when his family finally spotted the issue.

Now a spokesman is saying the hospital fell short.

Monica Jennings went to Tristar Centennial on Sunday to see her fiance's brother. She had no clue she'd also be seeing something she said was growing in his room.

"I was blown back," she said.

Jennings said her future brother in-law is at Sarah Cannon Cancer Center. She said she discovered what she believes is mold on his bed table. It is a surface used as a desk and a place to eat.

The News 4 I-Team spoke to the patient from his own hospital bed. For privacy reasons, we are not disclosing his name.

"What did I say when they pointed that out to me? I said, 'Oh my god,'" he recalled.

Here's the irony. Jennings said before entering the hospital room, relatives were asked to put on surgical masks to prevent the spread of germs. Jennings wonders about the germs already present.

"It was very disgusting, and he had just ate dinner, which made it extremely disgusting," Jennings said.

The patient said he was hospitalized because of his throat. He said he worries about what he might have inhaled over those three days.

"My health is very bad and it don't take much for me to catch anything," he said.

Both Jennings and the patient said they believe the substance is mold.

But when asked what it is, a spokesman for Tristar Centennial did not confirm that.

The hospital did apologize after Jennings posted pictures on Facebook.

Tristar wrote: "We are very sorry to hear about this experience … these comments have been shared with senior leadership."

Jennings said next time she visits, she's taking a closer look at what's around her.

"Be cautious," she said. "When you enter the hospital they're not as clean as you think."

The I-Team had lots of questions for the hospital: Did administrators inspect other areas after this incident? How often are these trays cleaned? How many trays were trashed?

Joe Hagan, a spokesman for Tristar Centennial, declined multiple requests for an interview.

Instead he issued this statement:

Our goal is for all facets of our patients' time at our hospital to meet the highest standards of quality and care. We fell short of our standard in this particular incident, which involved a mobile tray that we immediately removed from service. We are ensuring all trays are clean and that staff follow our cleaning processes to help maintain the standards we and our patients expect.