Filipino janitor is also the ‘piano man’ in Illinois hospital

Rolando Maaba. Screengrab from Youtube

DALY CITY, California — Rolando Maaba, a 55-year-old janitor at the Rockford Memorial Hospital in Rockford, Illinois, does not only keep the premises clean, he also provides calm to patients and visitors by using his daily 15- minute breaks to play the piano in the hospital lobby.

Maaba was featured on ABS News’ “Good Morning America” on September 16.

While Maaba plays the piano at his workplace, it does not mean he does not take his job seriously. He says he even times his music so as not to miss a minute of work. “I play for 14 minutes and 39 seconds a day,” told ABC News.

“The bottom line is I want to be helping guests who are waiting for their relatives after an emergency or a surgery and they’re worried,” Maaba said. “When I play, they forget all their worries.”

“I want to help them just relax and the doctor will take care of them,” he said. “I want to thank everyone at the hospital,” he said. “I love them.”

Maaba moved from the Philipppines to Rockford in 1999. He began working for the hospital last year. He started playing the piano by simply asking if he could.

“They didn’t know me then but when I played they liked me,” Maaba said of the hospital staff.

The exposure Maaba received from playing piano at the hospital led him to another music gig, playing the piano every Wednesday night at a local restaurant, Francesca’s.

Maaba does not read music but just plays by ear. He and his wife, with whom he has two grown children, used to play music together at local nursing homes before they both started working for the Rockford Health Systems.