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In July 2009, Andrew Schulman was admitted to Beth Israel Medical Center for surgery. During the procedure he had an allergic reaction and had to be put into a medically induced coma for six days.

“I think the first thing I said, was with what happened to me, you can't thank God enough, or your loved ones or your doctors or nurses,” Schulman says. “You have to give something to give thanks. And I remember looking around this room, this unit, and thinking, I want to come back here and play my guitar.”

Schulman comes to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and plays for 90 minutes. And even though this trained musician performs at concerts and plays at his regular gig on the Upper West Side at the French bistro Alouette, he says there's something about playing at a patient's bedside that strikes a special chord in him.

“The interesting thing is sometimes when I'm at my regular gigs, I close my eyes and I picture that I'm here,” he says. “And all I can tell you is that it feels very good.”

Schulman plays everything from the Beatles to Bach, and when he stops by he gets his audience to tap, clap and sing along.

“My wife and sister live almost two hours away, so I'm kind of here all by myself,” says patient Lee Tyrell. “And to have Andrew come in and we share a common bond, and he's such a wonderful, wonderful, player. I mean, it's fantastic for a music lover like me.”

“He loves music. He knows a song as soon as it comes on. That's how much he loves music,” says Tyrell’s wife Alison. “So to have this man come and play, it's just wonderful.”

“I think the music does have a healing effect,” says Schulman’s surgeon Dr. Martin Karpeh. “We've seen patients' heart rates go down when they hear the music playing.”

And the staff has a note of thanks for him.

“There are lots of patients that are very grateful, but you've actually acted on your gratitude and have given back to so many patients and we thank you for that,” says Beth Israel Medical Center President Dr. Harris Nagler.

So for playing songs that are off the charts to bring some smiles to the SICU, Andrew Schulman is the New Yorker of the Week.

To volunteer at Beth Israel Medical Center, call 1-212-420-2974. For more information on Andrew Schulman, visit abacaproductions.com.

If you'd like to nominate someone to be NY1's New Yorker of the Week, send an email describing their qualifications to: nyer@ny1.com or mail a letter to:

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