How Music Became Anthony Cirillo's Path Into Caregiving

Anthony Cirillo is a healthcare and caregiving expert and president of the Aging Experience, and the creator of the Caregiver Smile Summit. He creates solutions for the industry and connects companies and people to relevant services and products. A professional speaker and media influencer, Cirillo is a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives with a master's from the University of Pennsylvania.

An Unconventional Path Into Caregiving and Aging Services

Ben: Most caregiving experts begin their journey as a caregiver. You have a really diverse background and arrived at your mission in a really unusual way. Can you tell our readers about how you became involved in issues for older adults and what you're trying to achieve?

Anthony: I started out in broadcasting, in Philadelphia. But I didn't want to go out of town to pursue my career because I was also a musician, my band was in Philly.

After leaving broadcasting, I took my first hospital job in marketing
As a marketing director, I didn't engage closely with end users, so after 12 years I left to figure out what I really wanted to do
Around that time, I started performing in senior care communities, eventually doing 100+ performances a year
It crept up on me that I was giving a lot and getting a lot back, working with older adults became my calling
My next corporate job, in New York, had me marketing Medicare Advantage-style programs for seniors, but I kept finding ways to perform, as DJ, emcee, and singer, at every event

I didn't get involved in caregiving because I was a caregiver myself (though I eventually became one). My road in was through music. I tell people I got my "dementia training" on the ground.

The Power of Music for People Living With Dementia

Ben: Have you found that music plays an important role in the lives of older adults? How did you view the impact of your performances for older individuals?

Anthony: You can look at the studies that show the impact of music on people in general, but I can tell you firsthand, and there are hundreds of these stories:

I'd walk into a care facility and see someone with Alzheimer's or dementia struggling, half asleep, not paying attention
During my performance, they'd perk up, pay attention, even clap, dance, and sing
Music has a way of penetrating whatever tangles and plaques are there, it reaches a part of the brain that activates

There are more and more studies confirming the impact of music on people's lives.

Building Real Connections With Residents Through Performance

Ben: Did you leave any lasting impressions with the residents who saw your performances?

Anthony: There's one resident at a community in New Jersey who asks the activity director every morning, "Where's my Anthony?" She wants an iPad brought to her so she can watch one of my shows.

I keep performances engaging: joking around, asking residents to sing along, telling stories
I match songs to the season, patriotic tunes for the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving songs in November
Sometimes I'll throw in something unexpected, like playing "Pennies from Heaven" and joking it's because it's National Accountants Day

Ben: Are you able to make individual connections with residents during your performances?

Anthony: When I started my consulting business in the Carolinas, I kept entertaining during my downtime. At an assisted living community in Hickory, North Carolina, I met Esther, who became my "designated heckler."

She'd roll her eyes at my corny jokes, like my "November is for accountants" line
We became close friends over many years of performing there
One day, the activity director asked me to visit Esther in the hospital, she had gone into cardiac arrest and been revived, and was now in the coronary care unit asking to see me

At the hospital, Esther's daughter told me her mother wanted a specific song sung to her, a song called "Because He Lives" that Anthony didn't know at the time. He sang "Unforgettable" for her instead, and promised to learn the requested song.

He went home, recorded backing tracks, guitars, and vocals, and sent Esther a CD
About a month later, Esther entered hospice, and passed away a few weeks after that
Anthony doesn't normally attend residents' funerals, but felt compelled to attend hers, and found the song he'd recorded listed on the funeral program

At the service, Esther's daughter told him she hadn't cried until he walked in. She then shared what happened on her mother's last day: they had played his recording on repeat, and she had knelt beside her mother, sung along, and told her it was okay to let go. Esther passed that day.

Anthony: I have a lot of those Esther moments. That's one of the most profound. It gets to the fact of why I do what I do, and why I can't abandon it. I left hospital healthcare, where I could have had a much more lucrative career, to come into long-term care and become an entrepreneur. There are ups and downs, some famine and some good times. So frankly, when I have the tug of wanting to make more money, I have Esther pulling at me, saying: "Well, hold on a minute, why are you doing this in the first place?"

About the Author:

You can read more about Anthony on his author profile page.