Podcast
Narratives of Care
Caregiving is personal, but it is never isolated from the world around it.
Narratives of Care explores caregiving through the voices of people who have lived it, revealing how family, culture, place, history, community, relationships, and the systems around us shape the way we care for one another.
Hosted and produced by award-winning podcaster Charlotte Bayala, creator of The Cancer Caregiver Podcast and Caregiver Breathing Room, each season centers a different place, community, or shared experience.
Season One takes listeners to Puerto Rico, where cancer and dementia caregivers, family members, and local experts share what caregiving looks and feels like on the island. Told through voices in English and Spanish, the season asks a deceptively simple question:
Is caregiving the same everywhere?
These are not stories about the right way to care. They are stories about how care is actually lived.
- Episodes
- 6
- Releases
- Weekly
- Typical length
- 11 min
- On air since
- 2026
- Latest episode
- 1 day ago
Episodes
6 episodes, from the first
-
1 min
Welcome to Narrative of Care: Puerto Rico (Official Trailer) Trailer
Show notes
Is caregiving the same everywhere?
When someone you love needs care, how much does where you live change what happens next?
Narratives of Care is a narrative podcast about caregiving, told by the people who have lived it. Each season explores how place, culture, family, community, history, and the systems around us shape the way care is experienced.
Hosted and produced by award-winning podcaster Charlotte Bayala, creator of The Cancer Caregiver Podcast and Caregiver Breathing Room.
Season One begins in Puerto Rico, where voices in English and Spanish tell stories of cancer and dementia caregiving on the island and what those experiences can reveal about the ways we care for one another.
Caregiving, told from the inside.
Follow Narratives of Care now so you don’t miss Season One.
Thank you to my tribe of supporters who listened to many early versions of this tralier and shared thoughtful feedback.
Season 1
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10 min
Before Care Had A Name (Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico)
Episode 1
Show notes
Margarita Bermudez Ortega was fiercely independent. Well into her later years, she was still living alone in Puerto Rico, mowing her own lawn and deciding for herself what she could and could not do.
Then little things began happening that were harder for her family to explain.
In the first episode of Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico, Margarita’s daughters, Maria and Iris, and her son-in-law Julio look back at the period before anyone would have called what they were doing caregiving. When forgetting, accusations, arguments and increased checking-in slowly began changing the family’s relationship with Margarita.
As her family started organizing around her, Margarita’s home remained an important part of her independence. Then Hurricanes Irma and Maria brought another kind of disruption, forcing the family to confront a question that would follow them into the next stage of her care: What does it mean to get someone home when both the place they call home and their ability to live there are changing?
In this episode
* Margarita before care became part of the family’s everyday life
* The early changes her daughters struggled to understand
* How checking in, taking turns and stepping in gradually became caregiving
* The family network beginning to form around Margarita
* How Hurricanes Irma and Maria changed the decisions surrounding her home and independence
Featured voices (In order of appearance)
Iris Bayala — Margarita’s daughter
Maria Santos Bermudez — Margarita’s daughter
Julio Bayala — Iris’s husband and Margarita’s son-in-law
About this series
Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico is a narrative podcast series about what caregiving asks of families, what feels familiar wherever we live, and what changes because of the place where care happens.
Through the experiences of families caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and cancer, the series looks closely at the relationships, homes, healthcare systems, communities, and circumstances surrounding care in Puerto Rico.
The series is reported, written, and presented by Charlotte Bayala.
Links & resources
Narratives of Care
charlottebayala.com/narratives-of-care
Credits
Reported, written, and presented by Charlotte Bayala
Editing and production by Charlotte Bayala
Music and additional audio: Envato
Follow the series
Follow Narratives of Care in your podcast app to receive each new episode of Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico
Learn more about the series at charlottebayala.com/narratives-of-care.
Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico is part of Narratives of Care, created and presented by Charlotte Bayala.
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8 min
Getting Her Home (Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico)
Episode 2
Show notes
Episode 2: Getting Her Home
After Hurricane Irma damaged her mother's house in Puerto Rico, Maria had to arrange repairs, restore electricity and water, replace furniture, and keep track of every expense. All while caring for her mother, Margarita, who wanted only one thing: to go home.
How much work does it take to get someone home and what happens when going home is no longer possible?
In this episode of Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico, host Charlotte Bayala continues the story of Margarita Bermudez Ortega, an independent woman whose family was beginning to recognize changes associated with dementia.
Her daughter Maria describes the enormous amount of work involved in rebuilding Margarita's home after Hurricane Irma. There were contractors to find, bills to pay, paperwork to complete, and two binders filled with records. It was caregiving work that extended far beyond helping her mother with everyday needs.
Eventually, Margarita returned to her own house. But less than two weeks after Irma, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, damaging her home again.
This time, her family faced a different decision.
Through the voices of Maria and Iris, this episode explores the often invisible responsibilities of family caregivers, the importance of independence, and what happens when keeping someone safe begins to mean taking them away from the place they most want to be.
In This Episode
• The physical and financial work of rebuilding Margarita's home after Hurricane Irma
• How Maria became responsible for paperwork, expenses, repairs, and caregiving coordination
• The invisible administrative work that often falls to family caregivers
• Margarita's determination to return to her own home
• How Hurricane Maria changed what her family believed was possible
• The difficult decision to bring Margarita into another family member's homePeople You'll Hear
Margarita Bermudez Ortega — The woman at the center of this family's story.
Maria Santos Bermudez — Margarita's daughter, who coordinated repairs, expenses, and many responsibilities surrounding her mother's care.
Iris Bayala — Margarita's daughter, who describes the family's changing decisions about where her mother could live.
Julio Bayala — Iris's husband, whose concern about Margarita living alone helped move the family toward a new caregiving arrangement. His role is described in this episode by Iris.
Charlotte Bayala — Creator, host, and narrator of Narratives of Care.
The Story in Context
In September 2017, Puerto Rico experienced two major hurricanes: Irma, followed less than two weeks later by Maria.
For Margarita's family, those storms were not only natural disasters. They created additional caregiving responsibilities at a time when the family was already concerned about changes in Margarita's memory and behavior.
The work of restoring her home involved repairs, utilities, contractors, finances, and extensive recordkeeping. These responsibilities illustrate an often-overlooked part of caregiving: the administrative and logistical work required to make everyday life possible for someone who needs help.
The storms also forced the family to confront a difficult question. When a loved one wants to remain independent, how do you decide when living alone is no longer safe?
About Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico
Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico is a 12-part narrative podcast series created by Charlotte Bayala.
Through oral histories with families navigating dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, the series explores what caregiving asks of families—and how the place where care happens shapes what becomes possible.
These are individual stories, not a definition of caregiving in Puerto Rico.
Listen and Follow
Listen to Narratives of Care on your favorite podcast platform, and follow the series for a new episode every Tuesday.
Website: https://charlottebayala.com/narratives-of-care
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/narratives-of-care/id6808407626
Share This Story
Know someone who has spent hours making phone calls, handling paperwork, managing expenses, or arranging care for a loved one?
Share this episode with them.
Not all caregiving happens at someone's bedside. Sometimes it happens in the work required to make a home, and a life, possible.
Credits
Created, hosted, and produced by: Charlotte Bayala
Music and sound effects: Envato
Audio production and editing: Hindenburg Pro
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11 min
When Care Moves In (Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico)
Episode 3
Show notes
Episode 3: When Care Moves In
When Margarita could no longer live safely on her own in Puerto Rico, her daughters brought her into their homes. But caring for someone with dementia meant more than making room for another person. It changed how everyone in those homes lived.
What happens when the person you love needs more care than your family knows how to give?
In Episode 3 of Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico, host Charlotte Bayala continues the story of Margarita Bermudez Ortega and the family navigating her growing need for care.
Her daughter Iris worried about how bringing Margarita into the house would affect her marriage. Her husband, Julio, surprised her by stepping into caregiving himself, making Margarita coffee and breakfast each morning.
But daily life also required constant attention. Iris watched over her mother's safety while trying to respect her independence, even as their relationship became increasingly difficult.
In another household, Maria and her partner Petra found their own ways of caring for Margarita. Maria kept detailed records of her mother's meals, medication, sleep, and changing needs. Petra supported Maria through the experience while drawing on years of caregiving in her own family.
Through the voices of Iris, Julio, Maria, and Petra, this episode explores the emotional and practical demands of dementia caregiving, the strain on family relationships, and the often unseen ways caregivers support one another.
As Margarita's needs continued to grow, the family faced a question they could no longer answer simply by taking turns.
In This Episode
• How bringing an aging parent into the family home changes daily routines and relationships
• Julio's unexpected role in caring for his mother-in-law
• The constant vigilance involved in keeping someone with dementia safe
• How Maria documented Margarita's meals, medication, sleep, and changing needs
• Petra's experience supporting a caregiver while also participating in caregiving herself
• The personal interests, relationships, and time caregivers can gradually lose
• What happens when sharing caregiving responsibilities is no longer enoughPeople You'll Hear
Margarita Bermudez Ortega — The woman at the center of this family's story, whose growing care needs changed life in both daughters' households.
Iris Bayala — Margarita's daughter, who describes the challenges of caring for her mother while managing the changes within her own home.
Julio Bayala — Iris's husband, who stepped into an unfamiliar caregiving role when Margarita moved in.
Maria Santos Bermudez — Margarita's daughter, who managed her mother's daily care while relying on support from her partner.
Petra Torres — Maria's partner, who shares her own experience of family caregiving and the personal costs of caring for others. Petra speaks in Spanish in this episode.
Charlotte Bayala — Creator, host, and narrator of Narratives of Care.
The Story in Context
When someone living with dementia can no longer safely remain alone, family members may become responsible for providing care inside their own homes.
That care can involve much more than helping with everyday tasks. Family caregivers may need to watch for safety concerns, monitor medication, track changes in behavior, and adjust routines around another person's needs.
For Margarita's family, caregiving became a shared responsibility across two households. Iris and Julio made room for her in their home. Maria and Petra did the same in theirs.
But sharing care did not make Margarita's needs smaller.
Petra's story also reveals another part of caregiving that can be difficult to see: the gradual loss of time for personal interests, relationships, and the parts of life that once belonged to the caregiver.
This episode asks what happens when a family continues finding ways to care for someone they love, but the amount of care needed keeps growing.
About Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico
Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico is a 12-part narrative podcast series created by Charlotte Bayala.
Through oral histories with families navigating dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, the series explores what caregiving asks of families—and how the place where care happens shapes what becomes possible.
These are individual stories, not a definition of caregiving in Puerto Rico.
Listen and Follow
Listen to Narratives of Care on your favorite podcast platform, and follow the series for a new episode every Tuesday.
Website: https://charlottebayala.com/narratives-of-care
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/narratives-of-care/id6808407626
Share This Story
Know someone who has welcomed an aging parent into their home, rearranged their life around caregiving, or struggled to find time for themselves while caring for someone else?
Share this episode with them.
Caregiving doesn't only change the life of the person receiving care. It can reshape an entire household.
Credits
Created, hosted, and produced by: Charlotte Bayala
Music and sound effects: Envato
Audio production and editing: Hindenburg Pro
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11 min
The Decision They Had Left (Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico)
Episode 4
Show notes
Episode 4: The Decision They Had Left
Margarita had always told her daughters she never wanted to be placed in a nursing home. But after years of caring for their mother in their own homes, her family reached a decision they had spent so long trying to avoid.
What happens when keeping someone you love safe means making the decision they asked you never to make?
In Episode 4 of Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico, host Charlotte Bayala concludes the story of Margarita Bermudez Ortega and the family who cared for her as her dementia progressed.
Her daughters, Maria and Iris, had tried different arrangements to keep their mother within the family. Their partners, Petra and Julio, helped make that possible. But eventually, Margarita needed more care than they could safely provide at home.
Moving Margarita into residential care brought new responsibilities, including the cost of care that her Social Security benefits could not fully cover. And when COVID-19 restrictions prevented visits inside the facility, Iris and Julio continued going to see her, speaking to Margarita from the street while she stood on a balcony above them.
Margarita still wanted to return to her own house.
Through the voices of Maria, Iris, Julio, and Petra, alongside patient advocate Dalia Cabrera, this episode explores the difficult decisions families face when caring for someone with dementia, the emotional and financial responsibilities that continue after residential placement, and the questions caregivers can carry long after their loved one has died.
In This Episode
• Why Margarita's family ultimately chose residential care despite her wishes
• The financial responsibilities that continued after she moved into a care facility
• Petra's experience recognizing when she needed help caring for a family member
• Dalia Cabrera's perspective on families navigating complicated care systems in Puerto Rico
• How COVID-19 restrictions changed the family's visits with Margarita
• Julio's private experience of grief, responsibility, and caregiving
• How Maria's caregiving records helped her reflect on the decisions she made
• The role of forgiveness and acceptance after caregiving endsPeople You'll Hear
Margarita Bermudez Ortega — The woman at the center of this family's story, whose wish to remain in her own home shaped many of her family's caregiving decisions.
Maria Santos Bermudez — Margarita's daughter, who reflects on choosing residential care and the importance of the records she kept throughout her mother's care.
Iris Bayala — Margarita's daughter, who describes the pain of making a decision her mother had always opposed and the difficulty of visiting during COVID-19 restrictions.
Julio Bayala — Iris's husband, who shares the emotional weight of caring for Margarita and the feelings he rarely discussed with anyone.
Petra Torres — Maria's partner, who draws on her own family caregiving experiences to reflect on asking for help and learning to live with difficult decisions. Petra speaks in Spanish in this episode.
Dalia Cabrera — A patient advocate in Puerto Rico who describes the uncertainty and frustration caregivers experience while navigating complex care systems.
Charlotte Bayala — Creator, host, and narrator of Narratives of Care.
The Story in Context
For families caring for someone with dementia, moving a loved one into residential care can be one of the most difficult decisions they face.
The decision may come after years of trying to provide care at home, adjusting family routines, sharing responsibilities, and finding new ways to meet a loved one's changing needs.
But residential placement does not necessarily end a family's caregiving responsibilities.
Margarita's daughters continued managing expenses, medical needs, and visits. When pandemic restrictions changed how they could see their mother, the family adapted again.
Margarita's story also reveals the emotional responsibilities that can continue after caregiving ends. Her family's memories of what they did, what they could not do, and the decisions they made became part of how they lived with her loss.
Their experiences raise a larger question: How do families live with the decisions they made when every available choice came with a cost?
About Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico
Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico is a 12-part narrative podcast series created by Charlotte Bayala.
Through oral histories with families navigating dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, the series explores what caregiving asks of families—and how the place where care happens shapes what becomes possible.
These are individual stories, not a definition of caregiving in Puerto Rico.
Listen and Follow
Listen to Narratives of Care on your favorite podcast platform, and follow the series for a new episode every Tuesday.
Website: https://charlottebayala.com/narratives-of-care
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/narratives-of-care/id6808407626
Share This Story
Know someone who has faced the decision to move a loved one into residential care or who continues questioning the choices they made while caregiving?
Share this episode with them.
Sometimes the hardest part of caregiving isn't making a decision. It's learning to live with it afterward.
Credits
Created, hosted, and produced by: Charlotte Bayala
Music and sound effects: Envato
Audio production and editing: Hindenburg Pro
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15 min
When Everyone Still Needs You | Cancer Caregiving in Puerto Rico
Episode 5
Show notes
Episode 5: When Everyone Still Needs You
Barbara Ríos was 23 years old when her two-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia in Puerto Rico. She needed to stay with him at the hospital, but she also had a three-month-old daughter at home. Her family needed her in two places, and she couldn't be in both.
What happens to the life you're already living when someone you love needs cancer treatment?
In Episode 5 of Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico, host Charlotte Bayala introduces three women whose experiences with cancer caregiving began under very different circumstances.
Barbara Ríos was raising two young children when her son Gerardo was diagnosed with leukemia. Hospital stays separated her from her baby daughter, who was being raised day to day by other family members while Barbara remained with her son.
Wilkiria Pichardo took her young daughter Emily for bloodwork, never expecting that they would be sent to another hospital by ambulance. Emily was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and Wilkiria soon learned that treatment would last 105 weeks. Alongside her daughter's medical care came questions about work, income, housing expenses, and how to maintain their life together.
Dolores García Ojeda, known as Lolín, became a caregiver in a different way. While raising two daughters, she agreed to welcome a man with cancer into her home. They were practically strangers when he arrived. Over five years of caregiving, he became part of her family.
Through their stories, this episode explores the responsibilities cancer caregivers take on, the disruption of everyday family life, and the people who help keep things going when treatment changes everything.
In This Episode
• Barbara's experience caring for her son with leukemia while separated from her infant daughter
• How prolonged hospital stays affect relationships and family routines
• Wilkiria's unexpected transition from a routine medical visit to her daughter's leukemia diagnosis
• The financial and employment challenges of managing more than two years of cancer treatment
• How unpredictable hospital admissions changed the way Wilkiria prepared for appointments
• Dolores's decision to care for someone outside her immediate family
• How caregiving transformed a stranger into a member of Dolores's household
• The ways relatives, friends, and other community members became part of these women's caregiving experiencesPeople You'll Hear
Barbara Ríos — A mother in Puerto Rico whose son Gerardo was diagnosed with leukemia at age two, while she was also caring for an infant daughter.
Wilkiria Pichardo — A mother whose daughter Emily was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at three years old. Wilkiria shares the challenges of balancing cancer treatment with employment, finances, and daily life. She speaks in Spanish in this episode.
Dolores García Ojeda (Lolín) — A caregiver who welcomed a man with cancer into her home while raising her daughters. Over five years, he became part of their family. Dolores speaks in Spanish in this episode.
Charlotte Bayala — Creator, host, and narrator of Narratives of Care.
The Story in Context
A cancer diagnosis can change far more than a family's medical schedule.
For parents caring for a child with cancer, treatment may require extended hospital stays, unexpected admissions, time away from work, and separation from other children.
For caregivers supporting adults with cancer, responsibilities may include learning unfamiliar care tasks, rearranging household routines, and making room for someone who needs ongoing assistance.
These three stories from Puerto Rico reveal different ways cancer caregiving can enter a person's life.
Barbara was only fifteen minutes from home, yet hospital stays kept her away from her daughter. Wilkiria faced a lengthy treatment schedule while trying to maintain her financial responsibilities. Dolores opened her home to someone she barely knew and gradually became part of a larger caregiving family.
Their experiences are different, but they raise a shared question: How do you continue caring for everyone and everything that mattered before cancer entered your life?
About Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico
Narratives of Care: Puerto Rico is a 12-part narrative podcast series created by Charlotte Bayala.
Through oral histories with families navigating dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, the series explores what caregiving asks of families—and how the place where care happens shapes what becomes possible.
These are individual stories, not a definition of caregiving in Puerto Rico.
Listen and Follow
Listen to Narratives of Care on your favorite podcast platform, and follow the series for a new episode every Tuesday.
Website: https://charlottebayala.com/narratives-of-care
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/narratives-of-care/id6808407626
Share This Story
Know someone whose family has been changed by a cancer diagnosis, or who has struggled to balance caring for a loved one with the responsibilities of everyday life?
Share this episode with them.
Cancer treatment may become the center of a family's attention, but the rest of their lives doesn't stop needing them.
Credits
Created, hosted, and produced by: Charlotte Bayala
Music and sound effects: Envato
Audio production and editing: Hindenburg Pro
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