Political Rewind: Rosalynn Carter's legacy on mental healthcare and support for caregivers

Caption

Then-first lady Rosalynn Carter chairs a meeting in Chicago for the President's Commission on Mental Health in 1977.

Credit: Courtesy of the National Archives

The panel: 

Ellen Eldridge, Senior health reporter and Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism, GPB, @EllenEldridge27 

Dr. Jennifer Olsen, CEO Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, @JenOlsen_DrPH

Paige Alexander, CEO The Carter Center, @P_AlexanderCEO

The breakdown:

1. Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander updates us on President Carter's health.

•  Last month former first lady Rosalynn Carter’s family announced her dementia diagnosis.
  • This comes after the Carter family announced former president Jimmy Carter would enter home hospice care earlier this year.
• Rosalynn Carter and Jimmy Carter are resting in their home in Plains, Ga.

2. Where Georgia stands on the caregiving crisis and mental healthcare.

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about seven potential family caregivers per adult.
• GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports that almost 20% of Georgia's population is older than 60, and about 10% of the state's seniors live alone.
• In addition to a shortage of caregivers in Georgia, current caregivers can face mental, emotional, and financial challenges themselves.
• The Georgia legislature passed a mental health overhaul during the 2022 session, but during the 2023 session, more mental healthcare funding fell short.

3. How Rosalynn Carter's legacy lives on in the mental health and caregiving spaces.

• Mrs. Carter began caregiving at a young age when her father was diagnosed with cancer.
• The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, based in Americus, Ga. has focused on providing support for caregivers since the late 1980s.
• The Carter Center, based in Atlanta, was co-founded by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in 1982. Rosalynn Carter has a 50-year legacy of advocating for and de-stigmatizing mental health and substance use disorders.
• The Center also works with journalists through its U.S. and global Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.

Monday on Political Rewind: The AJC's Patricia Murphy joins us as former President Donald Trump says he has been indicted by DOJ special counsel.