Fifteen years ago, Maria Cerino started the Mystic Seniors Helping Seniors caretaking facility. It enables seniors who are not very mobile to remain at their homes during their older years.

The company does not offer medical help. The company has seniors helping other seniors who are having difficulty doing household chores, meal preparation, driving to appointments and yard and pet care. They also offer overnight stays, 24-hour and personal and respite care.

A very important attribute that the company offers is companionship by having someone close to the same age as the client who can relate more empathetically with them. They’ve shared many of the same historical and other important experiences and events that have occurred over the years in this briskly changing world.

Maria Cerino learned the hard way of how much care an immobile person needs when her late husband had Lou Gehrig’s disease. It was a full- time job. But she was living in Stonington, had a part time job in Hartford and was raising three children during this period.

She said, “My husband was confined to a wheelchair for two years. I worried about him every day because there were no facilities that offered non-medical companionship care for immobile persons. Visiting nurses and other medical caretakers only do so much.”

But somehow Maria made sure she handled all the non-medical care her husband needed so that he could remain comfortable at his beloved home throughout his illness. The experience motivated Cerino to start a business that provides extra help and support for seniors that have found difficulty with daily mundane activities.

Her company allows clients to stay in their homes, where most seniors prefer to be during their later years.

Having seniors helping seniors with special needs, certain complications are resolved. Seniors with special needs are more relaxed when someone closer to their age is helping them because they’ve shared many of the same experiences and have less difficulty relating with them than a younger person could.

Cerino said that they do have some younger people working for the facility, but a majority are senior citizens who are retired nurses, CNAs, teachers and bankers.

They have a shared compassion and wisdom with the people they are helping that often blossom into strong and lasting friendships. It’s truly amazing how a senior companion visiting a client a few hours a week can invigorate their lives. It rejuvenates their feeling of worthiness. This is the most requested service the business offers.

Cerino learned about what would become her business from an Indian woman who was living in the United States. The woman noticed how much of the senior population from her neighborhood were housebound. She related how in India seniors often helped less mobile seniors to be more active.

She related this to Cerino, and she listened. This was what she had needed when taking care of her immobile husband. She did what she had to and created the Mystic Seniors Helping Seniors business.

According to Cerino, clients are referred to her company by doctors, family members and friends. She hopes to keep her business small and remain solely in southeastern Connecticut and southwestern Rhode Island. This is her cherished community that has many seniors with special needs who don’t want to spend their later years in a nursing facility. They want to remain at home and live as closely as they had been when they were more active.

Maria and all her employees and clients are happy they’ve met this achievement. Fifteen years of helpful compassionate and rejuvenating care is quite an accomplishment. The celebration is enduring while it commemorates the hard work that is treasured by her employees.

It’s given their clients a brighter future. Cerino is vibrant and enthused to have a team that loves what they do. Her employees pass on these good vibes to their clients. They all look forward to helping more people in need; creating fortified friendships and lasting memories for a long time to come.

Steve Birt lives in Mystic.