As the country says goodbye to Jimmy Carter, many members of the hospice industry are reflecting on Carter’s contributions to the hospice industry and commending his efforts in raising hospice awareness.
Carter's national funeral service was scheduled to take place Thursday, Jan. 9 at 10 a.m. EST at the Washington National Cathedral, while his private funeral service was scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 9 at 3:45 p.m. EST at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.
“On behalf of every member of the Alliance, thank you to the late President Jimmy Carter and the entire Carter family for bringing hospice care into the national conversation and helping everyday Americans become better equipped to think and talk about their end-of-life journeys and wishes,” Steve Landers, CEO of the National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance), said in a statement.
The Alliance also noted some of Carter’s most significant contributions to hospice, including his "courageous decision" to publicly share his choice for hospice care in February 2023.
"Since then, he received hospice services from the comfort of his home surrounded by loved ones," Landers said. "By making his choice public, President Carter once again led by example, showing Americans how to embrace a stage of life that many don’t want to think or talk about. He showed the nation how hospice helps patients live full lives at the end of life."
Carter played a role in the early days of the hospice benefit, the Alliance pointed out. In 1979, when a budding hospice movement was developing and Carter was president, his administration ran demonstration programs at 26 hospices to test how hospice might work as part of Medicare.
"Those demonstration projects helped prove the model and led to Congress passing the law under the next administration that created the Medicare Hospice Benefit we know today," Landers said. "Carter’s leadership as president helped create today’s hospice care, and even through his death, he continued to light the hospice path for all of us.”
“When President Carter chose to receive hospice care in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, he and his family made the decision that countless others do—to receive care in the comfort and solace of their homes, surrounded by the love and support of family," said Tom Koutsoumpas, CEO of National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). "President Carter’s nearly two-year journey in hospice care highlights its profound value, challenging the misconception that hospice is solely for the final days of life. His experience illustrates how hospice can provide comfort, dignity and compassion for those navigating life’s final chapter.”