After his death on December 29, a grateful nation mourns President Jimmy Carter. Carter set an example of civic duty and civility that was appreciated by many. He supported the less fortunate through laws, activism and rhetoric designed to uplift and encourage. Carter supported health care, education and human rights while he was the thirty ninth president of the United States and after his term as a non-public citizen.
Thanks to President Joe Biden’s executive order, January 9, 2025, shall be declared a day of national mourning to honor Carter’s legacy.
Here are a few of the ways Carter left a mark on the nation.
Carter struggled with homelessness
Jimmy Carter devoted much of his personal time and extraordinary capital to advocating the necessity for a protected home for everybody, no matter their financial situation. After his death, social media was flooded with memes describing Carter’s involvement in helping construct homes through Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat for Humanity released an announcement recognizing the nice contributions Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter have made to their organization over the past three many years.
“Together, they have worked with over 108,100 volunteers who have built, renovated or repaired over 4,447 homes in 14 countries, all while raising awareness of the critical need for affordable housing,” wrote the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project Team of Habitat for Humanity .
Not with the ability to secure everlasting housing can put your physical and mental health in danger. “People experiencing homelessness are at increased risk of infectious and non-communicable diseases. Homelessness is known to increase the risk of infectious diseases such as Viral hepatitis (especially hepatitis C), Tuberculosis (TB), Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),” based on US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). These should not the one dangers that include not having a stable home; The CDC states that “People experiencing homelessness often struggle with mental illness, alcohol and substance use disorders, diabetes, and heart and lung disease.”
Carter supports HBCUs
If you might have a black doctor or lawyer you switch to for help, you’ll be able to thank Carter. The Historic Preservation Advisory Board reported that “On August 8, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed EExecutive Order 12232, (EO) which directed the Secretary of Education to implement a federal initiative to achieve significant increases in the participation of historically black colleges and universities in federally sponsored programs.” The initiative was intended to “discover, reduce, and eliminate barriers which will have the unfair effect of limiting participation in and advantages from federally sponsored programs.”
The White House reports, “Seventy percent of our nation’s Black physicians attended HBCUs, and 80 percent of Black judges are HBCU graduates,” making cultivating intentional support for HBCUs even more important.
Carter was battling a rare disease
After his presidency, Carter and Roslyn worked together to combat and prevent rare diseases at The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization they founded in partnership with Emory University, a respected educational institution in their home state of Georgia. According to their website, the center will focus on “a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering.”
The global diseases that the center sought to prevent and treat included: “maritime guinea, river blindness, trachoma, schistosomiasis, lymphatic Filariasis, and malaria in Hispaniola.”
New York Times characterised Carter’s global health status as “quiet but monumental.”
Healthcare accessibility supported by Carter
Article from 2017 in Missouri Medicine states, “Primary care physicians in rural areas often lack the support of subspecialists, hospitals, and emergency physicians, and therefore treat a broader range of conditions with limited access to advanced technology.” People deserve access to the health care they need, whether they live in a big town or a small town.
Carter, a Georgia native, has focused on increasing access to health care in rural areas during his administration. In 1975, he supported the Rural Health Initiative. This initiative began by providing resources for 47 new health centers. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration of health resources and services“The following year, the number of projects increased to 138. With the support of the Carter Administration, 262 projects were completed in 1977 and 356 in 1978.”
Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, President and CEO NACHC, in a statement, he commented on how Carter defended access to health care in rural communities. “President Carter’s legacy is deeply intertwined with the Community Health Center (CHC) movement, as exemplified by his warm White House reception of community health center advocates,” Rhee said.
“His visionary leadership and deep understanding of the importance of primary care laid the foundation for building access to rural CHCs, which now serve nearly 10 million rural Americans – one in five rural Americans – in 6,500 locations. “Carter’s early recognition of the vital role of CHCs in the health and well-being of communities helped establish them as key providers of health care in rural areas.”
Carter, the first former president to celebrate his own 100th birthday On October 1, 2024, he gave a plan to serve others.
