The Power of “Can”: Being Able to Help Others Gives Residents’ Lives Meaning

“If it was me and I woke up in the morning and only had to thank others for caring for me, I’d want to end it.” That was the honest assessment a certified nurse assistant (CNA) once offered to Matthew Lysobey, MPH, LNHA, of the residents’ daily lives. That was a powerful reminder of how important having a purpose is to residents, he said. Mr. Lysobey addressed this in “When No One Needs You Anymore: A Service-Based Approach to Depression in the Nursing Home,” the Anne-Marie Filkin Lecture he delivered at the virtual Annual Conference of AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.