Jimmy Carter at 98 opts for hospice care after string of hospital visits
The Guardian – By Edward Helmore – Sat 18 Feb 2023
Jimmy Carter has “decided to spend his remaining time at home” in hospice care after a series of short hospital stays, the 98-year-old former president’s family said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement, issued by the Carter Center, said the ex-president’s choice had “the full of support of his family and his medical team”. It also said the family “asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his admirers”.
Carter, a Democrat, is the longest-lived president. He served as the 39th president from 1977 to 1981. He was preceded by Gerald Ford and succeeded by late Ronald Reagan, a Republican who defeated him at the end of his lone term, during the Iran hostage crisis.
Carter won the 2002 Nobel peace prize for work to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, advance democracy and human rights, and promote economic and social development. He is known for a devotion to the Baptist faith.
Born and raised in Plains, Georgia, Carter joined the US navy in 1946, serving on submarines. In 1953, he left the service and returned home to Georgia to run his family’s peanut farm.
As he embarked on a political career, he became an activist Democrat who opposed racial segregation and supported the nascent civil rights movement. From 1963 to 1967, Carter served in the Georgia senate and was elected governor in 1970.
In a surprise turn after he left the governorship in 1975, he won the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination and – as an outsider candidate later that year – the presidency itself. Carter won the Oval Office by 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 241.
His presidential run, he later said, was helped by the Allman Brothers Band. His campaign was $300,000 in debt when the band raised $64,000, allowing Carter to double that with matching government funds.
“Gregg Allman and the Allman Brothers just about put me in the White House,” he said in 2015.
all three smile.
Carter said he aspired to make government “competent and compassionate” – and responsive to the electorate.
From Habitat For Humanity
We have been deeply honored to have two of the world’s most distinguished humanitarians as dedicated Habitat volunteers for more than 35 years.
Throughout their involvement with the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter have been tireless advocates, active fundraisers and some of our best hands-on construction volunteers.
The Carters demonstrated their commitment to social justice and basic human rights over and over again during their time in the White House. Their resolve has only persisted since moving on, most notably through the Carter Center in Atlanta. They have also worked on numerous Habitat builds both in the United States and around the world alongside passionate volunteers just like you.
Posted by Teri Perticone
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