Music to My Ears was designed for Cancercare Manitoba in 2004. The concept was one of travelling minstrels: skilled musicians who would play for patients, families and staff in chemotherapy treatment, radiation and clinic waiting areas, creating calm, soothing distraction from the stress and anxiety associated with illness and treatment.
Tim Cummings and Ron Halldorson
Great-West Life provided two years of seed funding, after which the Cancercare Manitoba Foundation assumed musician costs with Artists in Healthcare providing administration, recruitment, training and supervision.
2021 Current year-round Music to My Ears musicians are playing at
St. Boniface Hospital, CancerCare Manitoba, Health Sciences Centre, Deer Lodge Health Centre, The Simkin Centre, Misericordia Health Centre, Riverview Health Centre, Brandon Regional Health Centre, Bethesda Hospital, Boundary Trails Health Centre, Selkirk Mental Health Centre, Deer Lodge, Simkin Centre, Middlechurch and Concordia Hospital.
While most of these programs were suspended in covid, some continued virtually and many are starting back inside as of August 2021.
Rural Expansion
In fall 2009 Music to My Ears expanded to the Boundary Trails Health Centre and the Brandon Regional Health Centre with musicians playing in the Community Cancer Program and on adjacent hospital units. The program will be opening at Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach 2010.
