89-year-old volunteer has spent decades playing the ukulele for hospital patients
Every Wednesday, his ukulele in tow, 89-year-old Tom Ruggles arrives at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, ready to entertain the patients and staff.
When he retired in 1999, Ruggles came up with the idea to volunteer at the hospital. "We gave it a try and I performed for a patient and it worked out," he told InsideEdition.com. "The head of the volunteers said, 'You're on.'" He goes from ward to ward, singing and playing the ukulele, and makes sure he knows the name of every patient he meets. "A lot of people say to me, 'Hey, you just made my day,'" he said. "Not everyone gets a song while they are in the hospital."
The former traveling salesman has no plans to slow down. "The only way I'd stop is if I couldn't walk anymore," he said. Catherine Garcia
The Week
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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