Former US first lady Rosalynn Carter has been diagnosed with dementia at the age of 95, the family reported Tuesday through a statement published by the Carter Center.
“The Carter family shares that former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia. She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying the spring in the Plains and visiting her loved ones.
Wife of Jimmy Carter and first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981, Rosalynn Carter has dedicated much of her life to being an advocate for mental health in the country.
As such, he urged “to improve access to care and reduce stigma around problems related to mental health,” says the statement signed by the Carter family, which recalls that one in 10 older Americans has dementia.
“We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that prevents individuals and their families from seeking and obtaining much-needed support,” the text adds.
As founder of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, the former first lady used to say that there are four types of people in this world: those who have been caregivers, those who are now and who will be in the future, and those who will need care.
“The universality of care is clear in our family and we are experiencing the joy and challenges of this journey. We do not expect to comment further and ask for understanding for our family and for everyone across the country who plays a caring role.”
From the White House, the presidential spokeswoman, Karine-Jean Pierre, stressed in her daily press conference that the president, Joe Biden, and his wife, Jill, have been in contact with Jimmy Carter’s team to make sure that his family he knows that both the former president and the former first lady are in his thoughts.
On February 18, it was learned that Jimmy Carter, 98, had decided to start receiving palliative care at home instead of medical interventions after a series of hospital admissions.
Born in Plains, in the state of Georgia, he turned 98 on October 1 and is the longest-serving former US president in the country’s history.
Also born in Plains in 1927, Rosalynn Carter attended her first studies at the school in her hometown, where she met her husband through a mutual friend.
He continued his training at the Western College of Americus (Georgia) from which he graduated in 1946, the year also in which he married Carter, a couple from whom four children have been born.
Starting in 1962, she decided to accompany her husband in his political career, first as a senator for Georgia, then as governor of that state (1971-1974) and finally in his accession to the presidency of the United States.
As first lady, she played an important role as honorary chair of the Commission on Mental Health, which she defended before the US Congress in May 1979.
After leaving the White House, she created the Carter Mental Health Center with her husband, which she later directed, and since 1984 she has participated through the so-called Carter Habitat for Humanity Project in the reconstruction of homes for the most needy, in regions such as Haiti. and Latin America.
In 1987 he created the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caring (RCI) at Georgia Southwestern State University.
This facet has earned him numerous distinctions such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American civilian decoration, which he received in 1999.