The best caregiver for an elderly person is a friend, said Priya Bansal, owner of Sacramento’s Seniors Helping Seniors, which employs seniors to help their peers with activities they can no longer do alone.

“Seniors are the most-neglected people with needs,” Bansal, 33, said. “It’s a satisfying feeling knowing you can help and make a difference in someone’s life.”

Seniors Helping Seniors is a national organization founded in 1998 with more than 120 locations in the United States, and Bansal opened the Sacramento franchise in late 2009.

“Since then, we’ve helped 60-65 families,” she said. “We have 35-40 caregivers who all go through background checks with the California Department of Justice and are bonded to us.”

Those caregivers do anything from driving their charges to doctor’s appointments to just hanging out and providing companionship.

Yvette Brittain has a Seniors Helping Seniors staffer come to help her 89-year-old father.

She said she learned of the organization in a newspaper ad and hired them for her mother when she was alive.

“(I like) the fact that they’re seniors,” Brittain said. “I had another caregiver in the past, and my mom was more comfortable with a senior.”

Brittain said that after several months of working with Seniors Helping Seniors, she is happy with the service.

“It’s been great,” she said. “I think it’s better to keep older people living in their homes. They provide great services and peace of mind.”

The caregivers work part-time, and Seniors Helping Seniors charges a rate of $18 per hour, which can be discounted in cases where seniors cannot afford to pay, Bansal said.

Annie Bonestucker, 52, said she saw a newspaper ad and applied to be a caregiver.

“An older person has a better understanding of what those who need care are going through,” she said, adding that she typically helps Brittain’s father take his medications, prepares meals and provides transportation and companionship.

“I like knowing I’m helping a person stay at home,” she said. “It makes all the difference in the world.”

For Bansal, starting the Sacramento franchise of the organization was a result of being impressed with the national organization’s founders after meeting them in Pennsylvania.

Bansal has a master’s degree in electrical engineering, but she said she prefers to work with people, and Seniors Helping Seniors was a good fit.

“You are helping another person, being a friend,” she said.

Though the organization’s founder, Kiran Yocom, worked with Mother Teresa, Bansal said it is not a religious or faith-based group.

“We respect everybody’s beliefs and privacy,” she said.

Anyone interested in becoming a caregiver or having one come to help should contact Priya Bansal at 372-9640 or email her at priya@servingSACseniors.com.

All caregiver applicants must pass a background check, and Bansal said previous experience in caregiving is a bonus.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.