Wondering what to do with an old MP3 player collecting dust in a drawer? You can now send it to an iPod Pharmacy, where it can help patients heal with the power of music.

The “pharmacy” is run by Music Heals, a Vancouver non-profit that refurbishes old MP3s and donates them to music therapists.

The iPods have been a boon to therapists such as Gemma Isaac, who works in Vancouver General Hospital’s burn unit.

“Patients do really well when they have their preferred choice of music,” she said, adding that choosing their favourite music can give patients a sense of control that is often lacking in their recovery process. The more music Isaac has at her disposal, the better the chance a patient can find exactly the song they need to relax, reduce their anxiety and make pain disappear – exactly what music therapy is designed for.

“When we listen to music, it opens up a lot of emotion,” Isaac said. As a music therapist, she helps patients tap into music’s healing qualities. That includes using music to activate damaged parts of the brain and help a patient regain cognitive, sensory and motor functions.

Music therapy can also help entire families cope with a medical crisis, as it did Wednesday evening, just one day after Isaac received one man’s collection of 4,000 CDs and DVDs donated through Music Heals.

An emergency trip to VGH spoiled what was supposed to be a night out at a Whitesnake concert for one family. When she heard of the unfortunate turn of events, Isaac realized she could brighten their spirits thanks to a Whitesnake concert DVD she coincidentally received in the donation. The therapist suggested to the family they surprise the patient with the DVD so they could all watch together.

“Their faces just lit up,” she said. “They were overwhelmed with gratitude. It brought tears to their eyes.”

Isaac also brings her guitar to patients’ bedsides, improvising songs or creating music with the patient, which she says is especially helpful in distracting a patient from their pain while their brain is fully focused on creating.

Music Heals even has a high-tech mobile recording studio called Bandwagon that therapists can bring to patients’ bedsides.

Music Heals' executive director Chris Brandt said the studio was largely inspired by Megan McNeil, a young singer who recorded a song in 2010 called “The Will to Survive,” which she started writing after being diagnosed with cancer four years earlier at the age of 16.

She succumbed to her fourth bout of cancer in 2011 at age 20 after receiving country-wide attention for her song, which paid tribute to children fighting cancer.

Not all patients are able to get themselves to a recording studio, which is why a pair of music therapists, Brooke Angus and Carol Wiedemann, told Brandt about the need for a bedside studio. In one conversation last year, the three of them drew out the idea for Bandwagon on a napkin.

Two operating Bandwagons now let all kinds of patients record their own music, including patients too ill to leave their beds. The mobile recording studios give patients a creative outlet, and for some, it’s an opportunity to leave a legacy behind. One unit resides at VGH, while another roaming Bandwagon is used in six-week stints with music therapists at other care facilities.

Music Heals also focuses on raising money for music therapists themselves. Isaac said she and other music therapists don’t receive any government funding and are supported by charitable grants instead. She said funds from Music Heals allow music therapists to work longer days, so that more patients can benefit from services such as Bandwagon.

Brandt said Music Heals is also about making noise – not just in the hospital, but in the world – by raising awareness of music therapy and its benefits.

“Anything that creates that conversation – that’s a success,” he said.