First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away last week at the age of 96. Her funeral will be Tuesday, November 28th. A tremendous humanitarian and a woman who changed the role of first lady in the White House, what many people don’t know is she was a tireless advocate for mental health.
The program Mrs. Carter started through the Carter Center advocates for mental health awareness. It also works on public policy and supports journalists working to support that endeavor. Lastly, she worked to reduce stigmas and discrimination due to mental illness.
Mrs. Carter’s efforts highlight a life dedicated to her Baptists faith and underscores her husband’s efforts as well as her own to recognize the dignity of every individual and to treat the most vulnerable among us as Jesus taught. President Carter called her “an extension of myself.”
Mrs. Carter’s impressive resume included being the point person on mental health issue during the Carter administration and passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. The Carter Center said of her work, “For 32 years, annual symposia held at The Carter Center investigated such topics as mental illnesses and the elderly, child and adolescent illnesses, family coping, financing mental health services and research, treating mental illnesses in the primary care setting, and stigma and mental illnesses.”
Her work in this field has garnered awards and worldwide recognition for her efforts. It begs the question, what are we doing for mental health in this country?
In recent years, “She described a system that continues to fail those in need, even though recent scientific breakthroughs with mental illnesses have potential to help most people lead full and productive lives.”Although gun advocates claim mental health is the reason for most gun deaths very little to nothing has been done to correct this problem. It begs the question, “why?”
Why isn’t mental health considered in some insurance plans and most people have to pay out of pocket making it virtually impossible for some to receive help? Could it be that every person in his own way requires a good doctor at some point and allowing people to have access to a psychiatrist would overwhelm the system? Could the health industry be concerned that in addressing this problem the payouts would be overwhelming?
Her efforts are noble, considering every single person in this country has a loved one who suffers from mental illness. Her interest to battle on behalf of people who have mental illness began in the 60s. In the early days of Jimmy Carter’s runs for office, people would come up to Mrs. Carter and ask her “What will your husband would do for the mentally ill?”
She talked about an exchange she had with her husband on the campaign trail, when she asked him “What are you going to do to help mental health in this country?” Then candidate, Jimmy Carter said, “We’re going to have the best program in the country, and I’m going to put you in charge of it.” It was covered in the paper the next day and she said, “the mental health advocates descended on her – of which there were about “five advocates at the time.”
In a speech given at Emory University, Mrs. Carter said, “People don’t like to be defined by their illness. You don’t call someone who has cancer a cancer person or someone with heart disease as a heart disease person. You don’t call someone mentally ill. You say, ‘someone with mental illness.’”
This is a very important distinction; to me it not only recognizes the dignity of an individual with mental illness, but it reminds us that it is treatable. In my heart of hearts, I feel as though Carter was compassionately identifying the human condition in addressing this issue head on. She soulfully reminded us that our misgivings, our daily struggles to cope with challenges are as common as an aching aged body negotiating the ground after sitting in a chair too long.
We are all subject to need of a helping hand at some point and time in life. Reliance on community to help us through these challenges is a cultural imperative and her work inspired us to take a deeper look at the power of community to help. Like many who went before her, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt being two of the most important ones, her candor and ability to negotiate on behalf of vulnerable people with political savvy ranks in the pantheon of great Americans.
In addition to her work on mental health, Mrs. Carter worked hand in hand with her husband building homes around the world to give a place to live for the poorest of the poor. It seems fitting that this woman of God would work so hard to build a home for people. Metaphorically speaking, the power of the maternal embraced all as she graciously welcomed those struggling to be at home within themselves and demonstrated that they didn’t need to be alone in building a place of peace and comfort.
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