Hospice of Washington County Celebrates President Jimmy Carter’s Life and His Many Contributions to Hospice Care
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Karen M. Giffin, Associate Chief Philanthropy and Marketing Officer
301.791.6360
kmgiffin@hospiceofwc.org
Hagerstown, MD, January 17, 2025—Hospice of Washington County proudly joins hospice friends and advocates throughout western Maryland, and the nation in mourning the passing of President Jimmy Carter while celebrating his many contributions to the care of the seriously and terminally ill over the past 45 years.
“In many ways, Jimmy Carter reinvigorated the modern hospice movement in America,” said Hospice of Washington County CEO Sara McKay.
The same year that a group of dedicated volunteers formed Hospice of Washington County in Hagerstown, the Carter Administration in 1980 enrolled 22 local hospices from across the country in the Hospice Demonstration Project with the goal of proving that home-based care by an interdisciplinary team of clinical and psychosocial experts would provide high quality, cost-effective care for the terminally ill. The success of the Hospice Demonstration Project led to bipartisan congressional passage of the Medicare Hospice Benefit a year later during the first year of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
Thanks to the Medicare Hospice Benefit, more than 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries received hospice care in 2022, according to the most recent available data.
“Beyond his early interest in the development of hospice, President Carter’s decision in February 2023 to announce he was foregoing further aggressive curative care to enroll in hospice jump-started the necessary discussions that so many families need to have with their aging loved ones about their goals of care when facing a life-limiting diagnosis,” McKay added. “More people today are talking candidly about serious illness care thanks to the very public hospice journeys of both Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.”
Throughout his post-presidency, Jimmy Carter wrote and spoke often about serious illness and death. As a centenarian, he was an outlier in his family. His father died at age 59. His younger brother Billy died at age 51. His older sisters Gloria and Ruth died at ages 64 and 54 respectively. They died of pancreatic cancer. His mother, Lillian Carter, died of breast cancer at age 85.
In his book, “The Virtues of Aging,” published in 1998, he wrote: “When other members of my family realized that they had a terminal illness, the finest medical care was available to them. But each chose to forgo elaborate artificial life-support systems and, with a few friends and family members at their bedside, they died peacefully.”
He spoke candidly about his many years of living with cancer and his thoughts on aging, growing infirmity, and his own mortality, whether in formal speeches or in the Sunday school classes he taught at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains.
“So much of quality healthcare starts with open and honest communication,” McKay noted. “Jimmy Carter showed us the importance of that. And that’s what we do every day here at Hospice of Washington County when we touch families—whether we’re introducing them to their options for serious illness care, caring for them directly as palliative care or hospice patients, or comforting and supporting bereaved children, teens, and adults who participate in our numerous grief and support programs.
We invite you to learn more about Hospice of Washington County by visiting our website at hospiceofwc.org or calling us at (301) 791-6360.
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About Hospice of Washington County
Established in 1980, Hospice of Washington County is the sole licensed hospice care provider within Washington County, Maryland. Dedicated to serving the community during its most vulnerable times, Hospice of Washington County offers a comprehensive suite of services tailored to each patient's medical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Care is provided wherever patients call home, whether in private residences, nursing homes, or assisted living facilities. Hospice of Washington County also operates Doey’s House, the county's only hospice center. More information is available at https://hospiceofwc.org/.