Jimmy Carter’s grandson said Tuesday that the 99-year-old 39th president of the United States “is coming to the end” but that he joked during a recent visit and “he’s still there.”
Jason Carter gave the update on his grandfather’s health at a mental health forum at the Carter Center in Atlanta.
“My grandfather is doing OK. He has been in hospice, as you know, for some — almost a year and a half now,” said Jason Carter, chair of the board of trustees for the Carter Center.
“And he really is, I think, coming to the end that, that — as I’ve said before, there’s a part of this faith journey that is so important to him. And there’s a part of that faith journey that you only can live at the very end, and I think he has been there in that space,” Jason Carter said.
Jimmy Carter decided in February 2023 to enter hospice care and to spend his remaining time at home in Plains, Georgia, after a series of hospital stays. He is America’s oldest living president.
His wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, for whom Tuesday's mental health forum, in its 28th year, is named, died in November.
Tuesday was the first Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum since her death.
"This is, of course, the first of these forums since that day," Jason Carter said. "But the outpouring of love and support that we as a family received from the people in this room, and from the rest of the world, was just so remarkable and meaningful to us.
"And it really turned that whole process into a celebration," he said.
Jason Carter recalled a recent visit with Jimmy Carter in Plains, during which they watched an Atlanta Braves game.
"But I said, Paw Paw, you know, I can’t — people ask me how you’re doing. And I say, ‘I don’t know,'" Jason Carter said.
"And he said, ‘Well, I don’t know myself,'" the younger Carter said as the members in the audience chuckled. "So he’s still there."
Jason Carter said the death of Rosalynn Carter was hard on the family. She was a humanitarian who championed mental health care. She also devoted herself to programs that supported human rights, social justice and the needs of elderly people.
"Those moments for him in this last year have reminded us, I think, of another of the really important aspects of my grandmother’s legacy, which is that of caregiving," Jason Carter said at Tuesday's event.
The Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum, established in 1995, is held every May, bringing professionals from all over Georgia to discuss mental health issues in the state, according to its website.
