PHOENIX (AP) — Singer Bret Michaels rocked a Phoenix hospital Thursday with a donation that will benefit its patients and their families.
The Poison frontman announced plans to design a hospitality and music room at the St. Joseph's Barrow Neurological Institute. It's the facility where he was treated in April 2010 for a brain hemorrhage.
"Music to me without a doubt has such healing powers and such positive energy," Michaels said while standing in the room, which will be named for him.
Michaels said the room will include music listening stations, guitars, drums and TVs. It will be decorated with artwork from patients as well as a rotating collection of Michaels' guitars. He hopes it can help others with their emotional and mental recovery.
The idea came to the rocker while he was being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit and seeing not only what patients were going through, but their families too.
"I said 'Man, wouldn't it be great to have a place to go for their family that they could maybe find themselves,'" Michaels said.
Michaels also was treated at the hospital earlier this year for a procedure to fix a hole in his heart. Doctors found the hole when they treated him for the brain hemorrhage.
Michaels presented two of them with autographed guitars he designed, saying they were a "thank you" for "concealing the titanium hole in my heart."
The "Celebrity Apprentice" winner has made a full recovery but still remains under the care of physicians.
From the furniture to the color scheme, Michaels, who has a home in nearby Scottsdale, intends to have a hands-on role in putting the new room together.
Hospital officials and Michaels are aiming to open the room sometime early next year. Once the room is in use, Michaels says he plans on dropping in even if it means coming across anyone who is having a hard time.
"I've been there, done that. I can talk to patients' families about emotional healing," Michaels said.
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Terry Tang can be reached at http://twitter.com/ttang28