The Caregiver’s Chair: The Invisible Work of Healing

In this deeply personal episode, Dr. Jill Goldenberg sits down with Ruth DiPasquale—a film and television professional, longtime New Yorker, and devoted caregiver.Ruth shares the story of her husband Stevie’s medical journey after treatment for prostate cancer led to devastating complications: severe radiation injury, repeated infections and sepsis, multiple surgeries, and years spent navigating hospitals and rehabilitation facilities.But this conversation isn’t only about illness. It’s about the often invisible labor of caregiving—the daily advocacy, emotional resilience, and relentless vigilance required to help a loved one survive a fragmented healthcare system.From learning to interpret lab results on her phone to spending hours at the bedside encouraging her husband to walk again, Ruth describes what it means to become a caregiver overnight—and how that experience changed both her life and her marriage.For clinicians, policymakers, and healthcare leaders, Ruth’s story offers an unfiltered look at what care feels like from the outside of the system.And for caregivers, it’s a reminder that the work you do—often unseen—is essential.