As a first year med student, there is not really alot you can do to help people. So you do what you can do, which was going to a nursing home to sing one afternnon. We had a quick crash course in a few simple Hebrew songs (of which I knew one) and one Yiddish song (Bei mir bist du schon)..which I actually knew (don't ask me how..i don't even know!) The nursing home was not overly depressing as far as nursing homes go, bright with pictures on the wall, but most of the residents were pretty out of it. They did perk up a bit when we started singing. One man I was standing next to, grabbed my hand and asked if we would sing any songs in Russian or Yiddish, when I said yes, he kissed my hand. Well, it turned out time was running short and we had to move on to the next area of the home before we got to "Bei mir bist du schon"...I felt bad so grabbed a few other students and we sang for him. He even seemed to enjoy my dreadful voice.
On to the next common area, where we repeated our repertoire.