Anthony Cirillo’s wonderful words of wisdom, May 23, 2006 Reviewer: Alan and Kathy Williams (Charlotte, NC) – See all my reviews Anthony’s book has helped our family come to terms with a very difficult decision. My wife and I have been anxious and sad at the thought of moving her mother to a long-term care facility. After reading “Who Moved My Dentures” we have a much better insight into the matter and feel more informed and less worried. As difficult as it is still going to be, just because of what it means to leave a house that has been your home for virtually your entire life, Anthony takes much of the edge off of the situation. His encouraging and warm first-person account of his experiences provides a balance to the negative press that long-term care facilities sometimes receive. He not only gives encouragement and support but also is humorous and enlightening, giving the reader a truly personal glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the wonderful people that live here and the dedicated people that care for them, including Anthony himself. If you will EVER have the need for information regarding long-term care, this is required reading. Great stories, great lives, great book!!

A Must Read If You Have Aging Parents and Loved Ones, January 29, 2006 Reviewer: DM (Stratford, NJ) – See all my reviews This book gives a comprehensive view of the realities of making decisions when it comes to placing loved ones into nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The stories and events explained in the book are enlightening, happy, sad, and quite true. Having gone through such an experience, I wish I would have known about this book as it would have provided comfort and assurance in knowing the decisions our family made were the correct ones when it came time for the assisted living and nursing home experiences with our dad. Cirillo makes hundreds of visits to the various institutions described in his book, so he sees firsthand the challenges and difficulties that we all must face someday, but he presents it in such a way, that makes for interesting and valuable reading. This book is a must read for all those that have aging loved ones that may be facing elder care alternatives and it will definitely help ease the burden of decisions that will ultimately have to be made. I recommend this book to everyone.

Easy to read, comprehensive look at Long Term Care, November 25, 2005 Reviewer: A. Stanowski (Pennsylvania) – See all my reviews I wish I had this book when I had to weigh my options for putting a family member in a nursing home! Cirillo covered most of the relevant issues, and also provided some nice life-lessons for us all. Cirillo writes is a very casual style. You almost feel like you are sitting down with a story teller, who happens to be a trusted friend. His allusions to his “old neighborhood” of South Philadelphia provide a nice slice of life. You can tell that Cirillo speaks from experience and with a passion for his commitment to long term care. This is not the cold synthesis of a researcher; rather stories with a purpose from a warm-hearted, well-organized educator, entertainer, and long term care professional. This book is something that every potential client for long term care should read.

Aging in America, October 31, 2004 Reviewer: D. J. Paulish (Yardley, PA) – See all my reviews “Who Moved My Dentures” is must reading for baby boomers contemplating nursing home care for their parents, or thinking ahead some years when they may be residing themselves in such an institution. Many of us are apprehensive about aging, and Cirillo does a great job dispelling some of the myths of aging in America and what it’s like living in an assisted care facility. In addition to being a healthcare professional, Cirillo entertains in diverse assisted living facilities, more than 300 shows a year on the east coast. Thus, he writes from an insider’s view, and he has a unique perspective gained from experience at many different institutions. The myths Cirillo addresses in each chapter are the questions many of us with little experience have about such institutions; e.g., are they places to die vs. a temporary home to enjoy life, what types of activities can you do there, friendships, romance, visitors. The biggest take away for me was the information presented about long-term care insurance. The costs associated with assisted living, as with other health care costs, are very high in America. An unplanned extended stay in such a facility can severely impact the financial resources of families without some type of insurance protection. I recommend this short book (163 pages) as a good initial resource for someone considering assisted living.

 And a review from the UK:

A short while ago I received a comment on this blog from Anthony Cirillo in response to one of the ‘Snippet’ entries I had published a day or two earlier. Anthony is an entertainer performing in Long Term Care Homes around the United States and, by all accounts, he does a sterling job. It is a job, nay a privilege, which brings him into close contact with all kinds of long term care and respite care establishments and to see for himself what goes on in them and thus gives him an excellent opportunity to dispel the myths surrounding long term care provision.

As a result of that comment on my blog he and I became friends and exchanged contact details. The other day he sent to me a package containing a book he had written, entitled, ‘Who Moved My Dentures’ and asked me if I would mind reviewing it for him on my blog.

I’ve never reviewed a book before: the nearest I’ve ever got to it was in English Literature classes in school, back when Adam were a lad! So I hope Anthony can forgive my faltering efforts to review his (I have to say) quite excellent and intelligent book.

I entered into this task with some trepidation since my usual response to reading is to fall asleep and I didn’t want that to happen with Anthony’s book. I needn’t have worried. It is a slim volume; just 162 pages long, but packed with a light hearted though serious review of the life he has personally witnessed in various care homes, all reported on from the perspective of residents both past and present with whom he has talked to over the years.

It can easily be read in just one or two sittings and is an entertaining and informative read, full of insight and revelation about the lives, loves and antics of care home residents.

There are a great many myths surrounding long term care, myths that do a lot of damage to this vital service and which serve to deter its potential users from taking up its use. Myths such as ‘long term care facilities are places you go to die’, or ‘long term care facilities are depressing, unclean and the last place you would choose to spend time’.

Anthony takes many of these myths and, one by one, expertly debunks each one with anecdotes gleaned from his conversations with those very residents who should know best exactly what life is like for them in long term care. Again and again his short chapters resound with the joy and exuberance flowing both from his own experiences and of those recounted to him by his all too willing subjects.

I can only witness from a different country and a different time, but I have memories of my Great Uncle Cyril’s stay in an NHS care facility and from where he subsequently passed on – all the inmates I saw, including Uncle Cyril, just sat around like wheel chair bound zombies; their expressionless stares providing a sterile backdrop to the stench of stale urine. It was not a pleasant experience and one guaranteed to bolster the kind of myths Anthony now debunks in his book.

Does this mean I am at variance with Anthony’s views of long term care? Not at all. Thankfully, I also have pleasurable memories of a great aunt’s and, much more recently, of my own mother’s stay in long term care. The love and attention afforded them could not have been bettered.

My own experiences, though, do seem at odds with Anthony’s tales of the lucid and intelligent folk he has met over the years as a care home entertainer. I cannot remember seeing a single resident capable of holding an intelligent conversation, so Anthony’s regaling of the free spirits he met was a welcome relief, concerned as I was that all care homes only ever catered for were senile old dears, blissfully unaware of their condition.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Long term care facilities serve the needs of all who need care: from the infirm but rational to those with dementia and Alzheimer’s; from the physically to the mentally disabled; for those recovering from heart attacks and strokes; and for all ages, from the young to the old. All life is here and, seemingly, some of it is very much alive and refusing to stop kicking.

For anyone needing long term care, but afraid of what’s facing them thanks to the myths they have heard about it; or for those charged with putting their loved ones into care but reluctant to bite the bullet for fear of what they’re letting them in for: this book is for you.

The final chapters provide an excellent resource of helpful information, designed to facilitate making a better choice and which follow a remarkable insight into how one might fund long term care costs: never a small consideration. True, the book is aimed at the American market and the final resource chapters are specific to that sector, but the book is just too good to miss, whatever part of the world you come from or are currently residing in.

If I have whetted your appetite and you would like to purchase the book (and, if you’re faced with going into long term care yourself or with placing a loved one there, then you could do a lot worse than read this first!) it can be obtained from Amazon. Its ISBN number is: 1-886057-60-5, “Who Moved My Dentures” by Anthony Cirillo; published by Warren Publishing; price: $14.95.

It has certainly dispelled some of the myths I had been carrying around with me for a long, long time.

Well done Anthony and thank you.

---

And here’s a review from Elder Law Answers:

‘Who Moved My Dentures?’

Last Updated: 3/26/2009

Anthony Cirillo. “Who Moved My Dentures?” 13 False (Teeth) Truths About Long-Term Care and Aging in America. Warren Publishing. Cornelius, NC. 2003. 164 pages. 

$14.95 from Amazon (click on book to order). 

The general perception of long-term care facilities is of places to be avoided at all costs. This book is intended to dispel that perception. “Who Moved My Dentures?” is written by entertainer and health care consultant Anthony Cirillo, who travels around the country performing for seniors at nursing homes and other venues. 

Cirillo highlights the positive aspects of long-term care facilities. Using human interest stories of people he has met through his work, Cirillo shows that these often-dreaded facilities are full of life, including romance, friendships, and activities. He contends that they build resiliency, which in turn leads to longer life. 

While Cirillo acknowledges there are problems, he believes that the majority of long-term care facilities have few troubles. In addition, he dispels myths that most long-term care facility residents are mentally ill or suffer from dementia, and instead presents a picture of residents who are active and engaged in the world around them. 

Cirillo doesn’t discuss nursing home rights and regulations, but he does offer some information on paying for long-term care and tips for how to judge a good facility. “Who Moved My Dentures?” is easy to read, with many heartwarming stories, and presents a different perspective from the one found in most other nursing home-related books.