“You're new here.  Want to see something amazing?”

Veronica was the new nurse at a big senior home.  Ward 7 was her new assignment, and despite Ward 7's lively reputation, she had never seen a duller bunch of old people, half-asleep in their chairs and beds in the community room, rolled in there so their beds and rooms could be cleaned in the morning.

“Don't be discouraged,” said Nurse Rosa.  “They look a little slow in the morning because we keep them up having fun so that they sleep well.”

“These patients here?”  Nurse Veronica said.

“Right here,” said Nurse Rosa.

Nurse Veronica had familiarized herself with the records of her patients.  They were about as bad as she expected them to be, but what wasn't in the records were the CDs and videos Nurse Rosa pulled from behind the nurse's desk.  The bin was marked, “The Sexy Tango Music.”

“Watch this,” Nurse Rosa said, and put a CD from the bin into the player.

The rhythm of tango filled the community room, and, like flowers awaking under a sweet tropical sun, all the patients began to wake up and smile and move whatever could be moved … slowly at first, but then they started catching the rhythm.  Some started tapping foot or fingers; some started singing along, and, after a while, some of them started chair-dancing and rolling their chairs back and forth in time to the music.  Conversation began to break out – ten minutes in, and Ward 7 was alive and happy, with people moving around and enjoying life!

“We can't cure them with tango,” Nurse Rosa said, “but we can help them feel as well as they can be.  Keep the music playing, Nurse Veronica.  They will eat more, exercise more, talk more, and rest well – they will live more, and so will you.  Keep the music playing.”