Help Me Howard: Can't get mail

WSVN -- If you ride by Arch Plaza Nursing Home and hear "Black Magic."

it's not coming from your radio.

Solomon Drimmer: "Listen, I'm singing better now at my age. I'm telling you my voice is better now than it ever was before.

His name is Solomon Drimmer. Two things are indisputable about him. He loves singing.

Solomon Drimmer: "I was three years old, and I said I was going to be a famous singer. I said it at three years old."

He has always sung, and he has always loved the ladies.

Solomon Drimmer: "This was my second wife. She was beautiful."

Patrick Fraser: "Now, did she dump you or did you dump her?"

Solomon Drimmer: "She dumped me. I deserved it."

Patrick Fraser: "That was your fourth wife."

Solomon Drimmer: "Fourth wife."

Solomon is single again, but his problem is not a female. It's the mail. M-A-I-L .

Patrick Fraser: "Do you get your mail here?"

Solomon Drimmer: "I'm not getting my mail."

A year ago Solomon moved from an assisted living facility in Miami Beach to Arch Plaza.

Solomon Drimmer: "I think this is the best nursing home in the country."

But Solomon can't be perfectly happy because his mail never followed.

Solomon Drimmer: "I put in seven changes of address. I've spoken to the post office."

The only thing he gets is a social security check, since he contacted them directly. Everything else, maybe even letters from old lady friends, is missing.

Solomon Drimmer: "From Medicare, from different people, different things that mail comes in for me, and I don't know what it is now."

Solomon says he has tried everything to get his mail delivered.

Solomon Drimmer: "I'm very upset."

But before we left to go work on his problem, Solomon had one more request.

Solomon Drimmer: "Patrick, please come."

Solomon wanted us to come listen, as he gave back to the nursing home that has given him so much, as he put on a show for them.

Solomon Drimmer: "I have a great feeling for them, and I'm going to sing for them."

That's very sweet.

But first, Solomon's mail problem. Howard what's the law?

Howard: "Two parts to the answer. If you live in a house, condo or apartment, fill out a change of address form and any mail sent to your old address will automatically be forwarded to your new address for a year. If you live in facility where all the mail is dropped at a one spot, like the front desk, a special rule requires that institution to forward your mail to your new address for at least 60 days."

Patrick Fraser: "When I spoke to the head of the facility where Solomon used to live, he told me, 'Solomon still gets mail, but I can't keep forwarding it to him. Its been a year, so I just put 'return to sender.'"

When I spoke to the post office, they sent a manager over to talk to the head of the assisted living facility.

The next day he called me and told me, "I will start forwarding the mail to Solomon for the next two months to give him more time to notify the senders of his new address."

And that gave Solomon something to crow about for his performance.

A few days later, he sang for the nursing home.

It was amazing to watch, as they wheeled the residents in.

Watch as wheelchair-bound people tapped their toes, clapped with the tunes they grew up with, sat with their children and grandchildren listening to songs they hadn't heard in years, waved and cheered at the songs they remembered when they could sing and dance.

Solomon Drimmer: "I love what I'm doing with the people here."

Patrick Fraser: "They enjoy it?"

Solomon Drimmer: "I'm making them feel good. I'm helping the Alzheimer's patients. I'm stimulating them mentally."

Solomon was so thankful we showed up he got teary-eyed and he is not kidding about stimulating the people. After he sang, an Alzheimer's patient came to his room and started talking about each song Solomon sang. The man can't remember names, but Solomon's songs from the past, got him going.

It was nice to watch it all.

Nursing a problem that has found a home with you? Want to change the tune? Contact us. We're free, we'll do it for a song.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

CONTACT: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
DADE: 305-953-WSVN
BROWARD: 954-761-WSVN