Monday July 13th, 2009
Social Worker Turned Entrepreneur Fills Void in Elderly Care by Establishing First-of-its-kind Agency
Arizona’s First Senior Placement Agency, CarePatrol, Celebrates 15 Years, Assists 3,000 Seniors with Free Service
Gilbert, Ariz. (July 13, 2009) – Witnessing unfortunate stories within Arizona’s senior residential facilities, social worker Chuck Bongiovanni decided 15 years ago to create Arizona’s first agency that fully assists seniors and their families through the often-difficult process of finding high-quality assisted living homes.
CarePatrol was founded in 1994 when Chuck saw flaws in the elderly care system and wanted to make a change. At the time, he was working as a home health social worker while visiting a 10-bed group facility with mostly late-stage Alzheimer’s and dementia residents. He met a 72-year-old woman whose mind was sharp and seemed to be in a different life stage than her peers. Chuck asked the woman why she was living in that particular facility and she responded with, “this was the only place that my daughter knew.”
The conversation made Chuck realize how many families simply do not understand the different types of facilities and how important it is for families to make the right choice. As a single father at the time, Chuck felt so passionate about this issue and despite being his family’s sole financial provider, he quit his job as a social worker and founded CarePatrol, the first business of its kind in the Phoenix metropolitan area. CarePatrol is a free service that guides families from start to finish, from one-on-one consultations and reviewing medical charts, to personally driving families to living facilities that best match their medical, financial, geographical and physical needs.
CarePatrol’s 15 years of success has led to about 3,000 seniors in Arizona finding the assisted living homes or live-in care that best suites their needs.
“Families can look for long-term care on their own, but oftentimes don’t know what they’re looking for,” said Chuck Bongiovanni, founder and CEO of CarePatrol. “At CarePatrol, we understand that moving an older family member into an assisted-living facility can be one of the most emotional and stressful times that they may ever go through. We have the background, resources, technology and expertise to make this transition as smooth as possible – and it’s free of charge.”
CarePatrol uses a proprietary ranking system based on state-issued data that examines about 2,000 facilities in the Valley and assigns a letter grade to each facility. After meeting with a family, CarePatrol will orchestrate everything from reviewing medical charts, touring only “A” and “B” ranking facilities that match the senior’s needs, coordinating the financing and negotiating rates and conducting follow ups for one year.
In his 15 years of operating CarePatrol, Chuck has played a pivotal part in creating success stories that families would not have otherwise seen if not for CarePatrol’s help. In addition to finding each senior his or her perfect living situation, CarePatrol responds to hospital emergency rooms in the middle of the night, refers families to many senior related professionals from: in-home care providers to relators to financial planners. CarePatrol’s range of services is completely free for seniors and families.
As the nation’s life expectancy rises and the baby boomer generation ages, Gilbert-based CarePatrol has seen a growing need for this type of assistance, especially with the number of assisted-living facilities growing in the Valley. CarePatrol, in April of 2009, developed into a franchisor and has since opened franchise locations in the West Valley, Scottsdale, Mesa, Phoenix and Tucson, 2 locations in Houston, Texas, St. Louis, Missouri, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Charlotte, North Carolina. CarePatrol is expanding nationwide with a goal of 150 locations by 2015. For more information, visit www.carepatrol.com.
About CarePatrol
Established in 1994 in Gilbert, Ariz., CarePatrol is a free senior housing referral service that fully assists older adults and their family members in finding and transitioning into assisted living homes, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care facilities, and coordinating in-home care needs. Analyzing and evaluating yearly state-issued reports for nearly 2,000 assisted-living homes, CarePatrol only works with the highest quality facilities within its proprietary rating system. Easing the stress associated with finding long-term care, CarePatrol experts guide families through this often difficult process from start to finish. From assessing the senior’s lifestyle needs, speaking with doctors and reviewing medical charts, to personally touring families through high-ranking facilities, CarePatrol meets each client’s medical, physical, financial and geographic needs for their new home search. As a rapidly expanding franchise company with 10 locations around the nation, CarePatrol’s innovative and unprecedented approach to long-term care has positioned the company as a pioneer in the industry. Visit www.carepatrol.com.
