Jimmy Carter enjoying family and ice cream in hospice care

As the life of former President Jimmy Carter winds down after nearly a hundred years, the nonagenarian is in good spirits, enjoying family visits sweetened with regular bowls of ice cream.

Carter, 98 — the country’s longest-lived U.S. president — is resting comfortably three months into hospice care, with his wife of more than 75 years by his side, his grandson said Tuesday.

“They’re just meeting with family right now, but they’re doing it in the best possible way: the two of them together at home,” Jason Carter told The Associated Press of Jimmy and 95-year-old Rosalynn Carter. “They also know that they’re not in charge. Their faith is really grounding in this moment. In that way, it’s as good as it can be.”

Carter served a single, tumultuous term as president from 1976 to 1980 and worked tirelessly on humanitarian causes for the next 40 years.

He has been receiving hospice services since late February, when he announced he would forego further medical treatment “after a series of short hospital stays.” While no illness was disclosed, he had suffered from bouts of cancer in the past.

Carter’s end-of-life care itself is part of his legacy, as hospice was added to Medicare coverage in 1982, soon after Carter left office. It provides care to those who are dying, and those who are supporting them — policies that the president advocated for while in office.

“Hospice has been a very important part of the president’s presidential service and policy from a public health perspective,” Jonathan Fleece, president and CEO of the not-for-profit hospice organization Empath Health, told People in April. He also noted that, contrary to popular perception, hospice is not for those last fleeting days of a person’s ebbing life. The care typically lasts an average of 60 to 70 days.

In these last few months, Carter has been keeping updated on initiatives of the humanitarian Carter Center that he and Rosalynn founded in 1982, and knows about the tributes that have poured in for him since he transitioned into end-of-life care, his grandson said.

“That’s been one of the blessings of the last couple of months,” Jason Carter said Tuesday, where he spoke at a tribute event for the former president. “He is certainly getting to see the outpouring, and it’s been gratifying to him for sure.”

With News Wire Services