HopeHealth President & CEO, Diana Franchitto, shared her heart about the important decision former President Jimmy Carter made in electing hospice care. Below is an excerpt from her letter to the editor, published in the March 19 edition of the Providence Journal.
Former President Jimmy Carter has taught many life lessons to many admirers over the years. Now, by sharing his decision to enter hospice care at age 98, he’s teaching us one more.
Above all, President Carter’s legacy has always centered around making the most of every moment. As he famously said, ‘I have one life and one chance to make it count for something.’ It’s fitting that he would embrace end-of-life care — care aimed at making each day its best, when time matters most.
Although hospice focuses on comfort, not cure, President Carter isn’t giving up on medical care. Good hospices have great physicians and other clinicians caring for their patients. Nor is he shortening his life. If he’s in the majority of patients, he’ll actually live longer on hospice than if he’d continued aggressive medical treatment.
Simply put, at a point in all our lives and health journeys, curative treatments may no longer help. But hospice can — with support for both patients and loved ones. As the region’s largest and oldest nonprofit hospice and palliative care organization, this is the work we’re privileged and called to do at HopeHealth.
I’m grateful to President Carter and his family for sharing this chapter of his remarkable life. His legacy will continue long after he’s gone. How he made the most of every moment, including his final weeks, will surely be part of it.
Diana Franchitto, Providence
The writer is president and CEO of HopeHealth.