It’s a situation that most adults will have to deal with at some point — finding the right care for an elderly parent.

Looking for the right care facility, be it an assisted living center or a nursing home, can take a lot of time and hours of research, plus information is not always easy to find. Then there are the financial aspects and the time it can take to visit each facility.

Now a new service in Kenosha can help families choose the right care facility at no cost to them.

Begun in January 2009 in Arizona, Care Patrol (www.carepatrol.com) now has franchise offices operating in seven states.

Kenoshan William Smith, senior care consultant and owner of the new Wisconsin franchise of Care Patrol serving Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee, said this can be one of the most important decisions a family will make. Contact Smith at 414-755-2255 or 262-344-4287.

“It can be overwhelming,” he said. “There are many pitfalls in searching for assisted living options. It’s really important to be with the right facilities, with the right programs and people with the right training.

“You want to match the social, health care and other needs you won’t get from a government Web site. We really educate them on the whole assisted living process.”

Grading process

Smith tours local facilities, researches the state citations and checks for violations. He then grades facilities from A to F.

Sometimes making an unannounced visit can turn up unexpected problems, he said.

“We walk every single facility,” he said. “Going unannounced sometimes is the best thing. I went to one home and all the residents had coats on. There was minimum heat.”

After touring the facilities, all information is logged into a database. Facilities pay a service fee as part of the Care Patrol network.

While Smith focuses mostly on assisted-living facilities, he is connecting with nursing homes and working with local doctors.

Other choices besides assisted living can include home health services, smaller residential group homes or working with Veterans Affairs.

The right facility

After a phone or in-person assessment of the senior’s needs, Smith will match the person to the facility that will best serve him or her. For instance, a person with dementia would be matched to a facility that cares for Alzheimer’s patients or offers memory care services, he said.

After the assessment, he tours from three to five facilities with the family. Once family members decide on a facility, he does a 90-day follow-up to make sure everything is going well or if any problems need to be addressed.

Sometimes making sure people are happy in their new home can be as simple as discussing food options or a change in diet with the facility.

Smith also discusses cost with families and refers them to financial planning services or to available loans.

“Assisted living can be $2,800 to $5,000 a month,” he said. “It can be so expensive, they may well run out of money. You have to talk about the future.”

Kenosha native

Smith, 46, grew up in Kenosha and graduated from Carthage College. He worked 20 years in human resources in Illinois before beginning with Care Patrol in August and going full time as a consultant last October.

“It was time for a change; I wanted a change of pace,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in elder care.

“I was a hospice volunteer four, five years ago. I liked connecting with people. And with over 20 years in human resources, I’m used to working with people.”