(Alexandria, VA and Washington, DC) – The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) extends its deepest sympathies to the Carter family and the American people for the loss of Jimmy Carter, the 39^th President of the United States and the Founder of the Carter Center. We mourn this profound loss. 

President Jimmy Carter devoted his life to service above self. As a young man, he had a distinguished career as a Naval officer before serving as Governor of Georgia and later, as President of the United States. After his time in office, through the Carter Center, President Carter and Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter led incredible efforts to increase peace and improve health around the world.  

Consistent with his life of service and leadership, President Carter made the courageous decision in February 2023 to publicly share his choice for hospice care. Since then, he received hospice services from the comfort of his home surrounded by loved ones. 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.  

In 1979, Carter was President, and the budding hospice movement was growing. There was no Medicare Hospice Benefit, so hospices ran on volunteer work and donations, meaning access was quite limited. The Carter 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. 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.  

“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,” said Alliance CEO Dr. Steve Landers.  

Join us in recognizing and thanking President Carter for his impact on social media by using the #CandlesforCarter hashtag.  

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About the National Alliance for Care at Home 
The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) is a new national organization representing providers of home care, home health, hospice, palliative care, and other health care services mainly delivered in the home. The Alliance brings together two organizations with nearly 90 years of combined experience: NAHC and NHPCO. NAHC and NHPCO are in the process of combining operations to better serve members and lead into the future of care offered in the home. Learn more at www.AllianceForCareAtHome.org.