Cesar Ruiz Jr. knew he was stating the obvious, but he wanted to make a point.
“This business is certainly not for the faint of heart,” he told BusinessWest, referring to the home-care industry and the fact that, by his count, there are close to 300 licensed companies in that sector within a 15-mile radius of the center of East Longmeadow, where he now operates his own venture, Golden Years.
He decided to join that very crowded field, when others might be put off by those numbers, for a number of reasons, but two in particular — a unique and highly successful model of care that Ruiz refers to simply as ‘the magic,’ and some real inspiration from three people who were very important to him — his parents and his grandmother.
As for the model, or the magic, it is a deep mix of services and programs, and three that are somewhat unique — music therapy, a ‘laughter program,’ and aromatherapy (more on all those later). As for those inspirations from his family … they were the real catalysts for Ruiz, who spent most of his career in the banking industry, to switch career gears in a profound way.