Los Angeles, California: Actor, Producer, and Philanthropist, Patrick Dempsey, founder of the Dempsey Center, which provides support to individuals impacted by cancer, criticized insurance companies for failing to cover holistic therapies that help alleviate pain in cancer patients.
“It’s a shame,” Dempsey said, speaking at the Milken Institute’s 2025 Global Conference on May 5th in Los Angeles. “People should be aware of them [holistic therapies] number one, and they should be free. Or they should be covered by insurance. This is our goal. This is why we’re here at events like this.”
He mentioned that the idea is to bring more awareness. Acupuncture takes away a lot of pain. It’s a wonderful thing. According to him, people are skeptical at the beginning, and they come out like, “oh my god, this is amazing.”
Dempsey participated in a panel discussion on “Caregiving,” moderated by award-winning journalist Lisa Ling. He explained that the Dempsey Center, founded in 2008 in his home state of Maine, was inspired by his mother Amanda’s battle with ovarian cancer.
“It was inspired by my mom’s cancer journey. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1998 she would, over the next 17 years, have 12 reoccurrences. So, it felt like every two years, we were having to go through it all again. And she really inspired the center,” he said.
Unlike traditional cancer treatment facilities, the Dempsey Center provides care focused on people holistically, not just the disease.
“So, we don’t treat the disease, we treat the person,” he said, explaining that the center offers wraparound care including nutrition, yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, reiki, massage therapy, and both individual and group counseling, entirely free of charge.
He emphasized the importance of psychological and social support in the healing process.
“I think there’s a tremendous need for it. There’s a real desire, and once people are exposed to it, then they really embrace it,” he noted. “But I don’t think there’s enough awareness. We do a lot of time and energy spent in developing our drugs, which are really important, but not so much on the holistic side.”
Dempsey spoke about the emotional void that often follows conventional treatment, where patients are declared “cured” but remain unhealed. That’s where the Dempsey Center steps in.
“When people come out of their treatment and they’re completely raw, and they’re left to just exist, but they’re not healed,” he said. “They may be cured of the cancer, but they’re not emotionally healed.”
He stressed the importance of addressing compassion and humanity in the healing journey. “When you’re living with a great deal of stress, it affects your body, it can affect your heart, it can affect so many things, and that energy is going into your cells, and if they are weak to begin with, can be susceptible to the cancer.”
Reflecting on his time on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, where he earned the nickname “Dr. McDreamy,” Dempsey acknowledged the show’s role in enabling him to create the center.
“I have to say, if it were not for that show, we would not be here today. I would not have been in that position to be able to create the center. And I think that’s the best thing that’s come out of the show, and everything else could go away.”
Dempsey also discussed new initiatives at the Dempsey Center, including a virtual platform designed to serve residents in remote areas of northern Maine, especially during the winter months when access is limited due to economic or geographic barriers.
One of the center’s signature programs, the Children’s Program known as the Healing Tree, is designed for youth up to 18 years old. Children are greeted with crafts to help them feel at ease before deeper conversations begin. Trained oncologists, social workers, and therapists then work with them to identify and address emotional and psychological needs.
Recounting a personal encounter at the center, Dempsey shared the story of a woman who came to explore the facility on behalf of her husband.
“She responded ‘no it’s not for me.’ I’m just checking this out for my husband,’” he recalled. “He was scared to death, because even though he was getting his infusions and he was doing all that, it admitted to himself that he had a problem, that he had cancer if he came over to the center.”
Once the man finally visited the center, he experienced immediate relief through acupuncture, and his demeanor changed.
“He transformed, and acupuncture took away his pain in specific areas. It was immediate. And then he opened up, and then he just started to smile, and the energy in the room changed dramatically.”
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