Ep. 92: The Process is the Product with Patrick Dempsey- Actor, Racecar Driver, and Philanthropist

Patrick Dempsey is best known for his role as Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd on the hit television show, Grey’s Anatomy. In addition to television, Patrick has starred in hit movies including Can’t Buy Me Love, Loverboy, Sweethome Alabama, and Bridget Jones’s Baby. Patrick has been nominated for multiple Golden Globes, Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Off the screen, Patrick is an avid racecar driver and sports car collector. In 1997, Patrick’s mother Amanda was diagnosed with cancer and relapsed several times before her death in 2014. During this time, Patrick founded the Patrick Dempsey Center at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. From his work there, he received an honorary doctorate from Bates College in Lewiston. In 2009, Patrick also introduced the Dempsey Challenge, with over 3,500 cyclists, runners, and walkers raising more than $1 million for the cancer center, and the Challenge continues to take place every October. For this year’s race, please visit https://bit.ly/3kWUGMq to sign up.

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Show Notes

[2:24] So we don't treat the disease. We treat the person in a holistic way, complementing conventional approaches to it. So we work on the mind, the body and soul.
[2:56] And also the caregivers and all the family members, we take care of them.
[3:37] For the caregivers, it's exhausting and you need a place to recover and to be able to release your emotions, to be able to talk about your frustrations and the things that you're dealing with in a safe environment, and then that allows you to recharge and go back and to help be supportive.
[4:07] You want to feel empowered, that you're in control of your own destiny. There are so many things out of our control. And certainly look at the world we're in right now. There's so many things that you have to surrender to the moment and go, OK, what are my best possible choices?
[4:26] It's at absolutely no cost to anyone coming in the door, which is a beautiful thing.
[4:52] I'm very happy that we have made the transition so a lot of our stuff is virtual, so people who are in remote areas who don't have the capability of traveling to one of our centers, we can at least reach them, which is good.
[5:05] You know, how do we keep the doors open? We're strong, we have a good board, we have good staff that has led us through this transition and a beautiful, clean way.
[5:22] I think as soon as someone is diagnosed, the type of work that's being done at the center and other centers throughout the country, it should go hand in hand because you're waiting maybe two or three weeks for a result, and that's an important moment to work on the mindfulness, to work on your diet, to work on your exercise so that you're strong emotionally and physically going into this battle.
[6:31] What makes it work is the local involvement and the communication with the people that are coming through the door and what our community needs from us.
[8:08] This was a great way to really promote healthy living, because when we exercise, we know we feel better.
[8:33] It's really to promote the sense of community and being active.
[10:32] And I think we've lost so much of just following common sense and logic.
[11:07] And that's how I look at it. It's a sign of respect to my fellow man, my fellow woman, the person next to me that I care enough about you, because I'm not sure I have been tested.
[11:42] There's so much fear, so much anxiety, so much unknown, that you can act inappropriately and rudely because you're amped up. And I see people are on edge. And if we can back off knowing that someone is struggling just as much as we are and approach them in a loving manner, this is what we need as a society for because that's our cancer and society is how we're treating each other.
[12:05] We have to really come together now and give much more love, respect and understanding.
[13:10] We need to get people out there, no matter what party you're in, exercise your vote and let's do it in a safe manner where it can be done in a way where everybody is feeling good about and is empowered as a nation.
[13:36] If you keep up with your practices, you show and feel the results and it's just being consistent with that.
[13:48] I try to have at least my morning meditation to set that tone to connect.
[15:15] Because a lot of our problems in our struggles is really how do you stay positive?
[15:55] How thoroughly you do the process, that's your end result.
[16:19] I think that's in good storytelling. What is the conflict? What gets in the way of the wants and how do you overcome it? And it's the same thing in life.
[17:25] It's all part of prevention and mental wellness is how active we have our kids.
[18:06] You have this wonderful body that we're blessed with. Make the most of it in your youth. Exploit its capability to its fullest and express it through the joys of sport.
[19:10] Now we have a tremendous opportunity to really accelerate into the future in a beautiful way, educating people from obsolete jobs and businesses that are gone that are not going to come back, that are not sustainable, give them hope and retrain them and educate them and give them a new direction.
[19:42] Through the compromise is great strength and unity and intelligence. And that's the beautiful thing, I think, in these messages are being missed.
[20:04] When I hear the word breath right now, I can't breathe. I think back of the image of a man with a knee in the back of his neck asking for his mother when we hear breath.
[21:24] And it's the hardest thing to remember is to focus on the breath when we're scared, when we're nervous, when we're overwhelmed or even when we're excited and we're feeling so good about things. Remember to breathe.
[21:58] What is our reason for being? I think it's really how do we make life better for people outside ourselves.
[29:01] I'm no different than you are. I'm just invisible. And that's the thing to remember is we're all one person here.
[31:19] True power is in nonviolence.
[32:01] As individuals, we need to be accountable to ourselves at the end of the day. Am I living up to this? Not what other people are doing that are pushing my buttons and triggering me to act inappropriately. How do I get a handle on that.
[32:50] If you just take care of your space, that will be enough.
[34:00] The moment that was the most difficult is what you remember, not the easy.
Thank you for joining us on Health Gig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.

“How thoroughly you do the process, that's your end result.” - Patrick Dempsey
“What is our reason for being? I think it's really how do we make life better for people outside ourselves.”- Patrick Dempsey
“I think as soon as someone is diagnosed, the type of work that's being done at the center should go hand in hand because you're waiting maybe two or three weeks for a result, and that's an important moment to work on the mindfulness, to work on your diet, to work on your exercise so that you're strong emotionally and physically going into this battle.” - Patrick Dempsey

Keywords

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PodcastadminAugust 19, 2020PatrickDempsey, TheDempseyCenter, Cancer, McDreamy, Grey’sAnatomy, Actor, Racecar, Philanthropy, Meditation, Breathing, Maine, TheDempseyChallenge, Skiing, Exercise, Kindness, Love, Support, Caregivers, Voting, Elections, Grit, TheDailyStoic, Stoicism, Health, Wellness, HealthGig, Pandemic, COVID19, TriciaReillyKoch, DoroBushKoch, MentalHealth