diff --git a/ceph-remove-node.groovy b/ceph-remove-node.groovy
index bc0b09d..cda53be 100644
--- a/ceph-remove-node.groovy
+++ b/ceph-remove-node.groovy
@@ -24,6 +24,19 @@
     return salt.cmdRun(master, target, cmd)
 }
 
+def waitForHealthy(master, count=0, attempts=300) {
+    // wait for healthy cluster
+    while (count<attempts) {
+        def health = runCephCommand(master, ADMIN_HOST, 'ceph health')['return'][0].values()[0]
+        if (health.contains('HEALTH_OK')) {
+            common.infoMsg('Cluster is healthy')
+            break;
+        }
+        count++
+        sleep(10)
+    }
+}
+
 node("python") {
 
     // create connection to salt master
@@ -91,17 +104,8 @@
 
         // wait for healthy cluster
         if (WAIT_FOR_HEALTHY.toBoolean() == true) {
-            stage('Waiting for healthy cluster') {
-                sleep(5)
-                while (true) {
-                    def health = runCephCommand(pepperEnv, ADMIN_HOST, 'ceph health')['return'][0].values()[0]
-                    if (health.contains('HEALTH_OK')) {
-                        common.infoMsg('Cluster is healthy')
-                        break;
-                    }
-                    sleep(10)
-                }
-            }
+            sleep(5)
+            waitForHealthy(pepperEnv)
         }
 
         // stop osd daemons