Reflections on Rosalynn Carter's legacy of supporting caregivers

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Funeral services for former first Lady Rosalynn Carter will be next week in Plains, Georgia, the town where she and her husband of 77 years, former President Jimmy Carter, were both born. Mrs. Carter died yesterday at 96 years old after entering hospice care just a few days earlier. The first lady had been living with dementia.

Many remember her for her fierce advocacy for mental health, but she was also an advocate for caregivers. As a teenager, she herself took on a caregiving role as the eldest of four siblings after her father died. Shortly after leaving office, she established the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving.

Joining us right now is Paurvi Bhatt who serves on the Board of the Institute. Paurvi is also on the Board of the Twin Cities based organization CaringBridge. Welcome back Paurvi.

PAURVI BHATT: Hi. Cathy. Thank you for having us.

CATHY WURZER: You and I were at a gathering last week that was sponsored by the Rosalynn Carter Institute, and it was focused on caregiving. Many people might not know what Mrs. Carter's goals were for the institute.

PAURVI BHATT: Yes. Well, first of all, I think we join millions around the world in honoring her legacy and wishing President Carter and the family the very best as they move through this chapter. The goals of the institute are important ones that are all around how we care for each other.

So as you know, from the time that she herself was a caregiver nearly 80 years ago, all the way through to her time in the governor's mansion and all the way to the White House, she has felt strongly in thinking through how to better ensure that we have the systems around us to take care of each other.

So whether that be with direct care services for caregivers, and who would have known that the framework she put together over 35 years ago is the one that we needed today with the 53 million caregivers we have, and growing, in the United States. She set forth a really important call to action to recognize that caregivers are all of us. We will all need someone to take care of us. We are all somewhere in a spectrum of delivering care for someone or supporting someone who is providing care.

And so with the different types of people we are in the space of caregiving, it's important to make sure that we have a system around us. So whether that's direct care services, making sure that we have people who can come into our homes and take care of us when we need, and that they're well taken care of as formal caregivers.

Whether that's tools and approaches for family so that is we're stepping in-- I was a caregiver, Cathy, I think you were as well, I mean it, to make sure that we have what we need as family to take care of our loved ones who need us. All the way to the policies that we need to have in place to ensure that the public resources that are being shaped and formed consider what family are going through.

And now, more than ever, as we see the number of elders growing around us and the elder care needs that are around us, the shortages of staff to help take care of those folks, as well as in child care, this entire space of what's now called the care economy needs a whole lot more.

But this weekend in particular, especially last week when we met, it made me think about, wow, what an incredible vision to have thought through early on that we are going to need a framework to think through these issues as we face them today. And Mrs. Carter had that voice and continues to guide us.

I'll end in saying she is known for her work in mental health. And, again, the vision of understanding that both of these agendas, caregiving and mental health, overlap in such important ways that providing this kind of support for family who need care, those of us who are trying to provide care, and all of the systems we need around us are important to shore up.

And so today we fully believe that her legacy is well in hand. And Jennifer Olsen who leads our organization, the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, is working hard to make sure that we're connecting the dots and ensuring that resources, private and public, are coming together to support all of us.

CATHY WURZER: Paurvi, you just ran down a list of some of the things that caregivers need. I mean, caregivers face a whole host of issues as you know. Ranging from the emotional and mental to the physical, financial. But I think if there's one thing Mrs. Carter would emphasize is that caregivers need to be acknowledged and seen. You mentioned there are 53 million, probably 53 plus million caregivers in this country. Why is it important to acknowledge and be seen when talking about public policy?

PAURVI BHATT: Yes. Well, if you can't see it, you can't do anything about it. So it's this interesting dynamic of, well, isn't just taking care of each other what family does? And so it's important to start to realize, yes, it is absolutely what community and family do for each other.

But in this very complex time when we all are working, we're all trying to do so much to even contribute in community, we need to be able to acknowledge that there's specific and unique things that caregivers do to ensure that we're finishing the story for where health care may-- formal health care may leave off and where providing for better quality of life and health outcomes continues.

And so at this moment in time, in order for us to get the services we need for our own mental health as caregivers or to get trained to ensure that more and more of the health care that ends up getting delivered at home can actually happen with the appropriate skills by family, it's important for us to be able to acknowledge that we do those things and that those things are formalized.

And that we get not only services to make us better in delivering them, but possibly even getting reimbursed for them. Because in the end, many of us end up leaving our jobs, whether it's paid or unpaid leave, to take care of people at home. Many of us want to be home with our families. We want the space and time to actually enjoy the days that we have and the time that we have with them.

And in order for us to get all of those things, the space and time to just enjoy time with family, the skills to be able to help deliver care when the system needs us to, and to be able to have a diverse opportunity to see the cultural differences in how care is delivered, we need to be seen.

And so being able to identify that, yes, I'm actually a caregiver for my mom, to say that out loud allows us to have a better opportunity at work to be supported. Allows us to have a better opportunity to be supported in community. And then when we can say, listen, I'm trying to do this, but here are five things I don't have. I don't have the skills I need.

I feel overwhelmed, and I could use some community around me. I don't have a platform where I could actually share where I'm struggling and get help from our community-- that's where CaringBridge comes in and does a lot of great work-- without being able to identify it's difficult for people to help us. So the first step is acknowledging it, not hiding from it, and then being clear about what's working and what's not.

CATHY WURZER: I know you had the chance to meet Mrs. Carter, and I'm wondering what was that like.

PAURVI BHATT: It was remarkable. And I say that because as a second generation immigrant who came to-- my parents came to this country in the early '60s, I don't think they would have ever imagined that I would have gotten this opportunity. I wouldn't have never imagined.

And I had the opportunity to meet her because she came to learn that I was taking care of both my parents, but at that time my mom. And because of that she had asked me to come join a conversation on caregivers and pulled me aside.

And her grace, which I think everyone has acknowledged, was important. But where she really focused in on me was exactly this point of, do you realize that you're a caregiver? And when I said, I've never put a voice to that before. Here I was, someone working in health care as an advocate for so many things, but I never put a voice to that before. And in hearing the story of our immigration story, she felt really strongly that I'd start to share that voice more and more.

And so it was a powerful moment to be in community with other advocates and caregivers when Jennifer brought us together in 2019. But individually, she took the time and really wanted to understand what it was like to be in this chapter of caregiving now as more and more of us are working and as so many of us are coming together with diverse cultural experiences.

She reminded us that at the end of the day take the time to take care of each other. And it's so interesting because when she mentioned that I was thinking of my mom who often said that of like, wow, all of you work. So hard to take care of so many others. Make sure you're taking care of each other. And that was exactly the sentiment I got from Mrs. Carter when we had the chance.

Our connection wasn't just in that face to face time that we initially met. She made sure to stay in touch with us as my mom was going through her final days. And that says everything about what she meant in saying stay close with the individual interaction while we balance all the policy work at the end of the day. It's what we do for each other and making the time to do it.

I had the opportunity to go to Plains to commemorate her birthday in August, and it was remarkable to participate in the food distribution that the Plains community does every Thursday. She and President Carter organize this. Jennifer Olson just did it this Saturday as well. And we-- it's actually every third Saturday. And they do it in her honor. And it brings people together in that exact sharing of giving of time and of service.

And it's a massive food distribution for rural Georgia. And it really brought us closer to her mission. So meeting her and being a part of it is more about what we can all do for each other. And she's a clarion call in that reminder.

CATHY WURZER: Well said. Paurvi, thank you so much for your reminiscences.

PAURVI BHATT: Thank you, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Paurvi Bhatt with us. Paurvi serves on the Board of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving.