Chronological History of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving
Established by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on October 14, 1987, the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) was founded at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia to honor alumna and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Building on her commitment to human development, especially in the field of mental health, Mrs. Carter recognized that although support services were available for those diagnosed with illness, family members who were providing the majority of their day-to-day care received none. In addition, those who provided direct care services to others were also receiving no formal supports. After making several inquiries of national agencies such as the American Medical Association, the National Stroke Association, and the American Heart Association, Mrs. Carter realized that there was a large unmet need to support both family caregivers and professional caregivers. RCI held its first annual conference in 1988, titled “The Professional and Family Caregiver – Dilemmas, Rewards and New Directions”.
In April 1990, the RCI established the West Central Caregivers' Network (CARE-NET) in a 16 county area that includes Sumter County, home of the RCI. In November of that year Mrs. Carter founded the National Quality Caregiving Coalition to bring together national groups to work together to promote caregiving across the country. During 1991 and 1992, the RCI embarked on a study of caregivers and caregiving in the CARE-NET region, titled Characteristics, Concerns, and Concrete Needs of Formal and Informal Caregivers: Understanding and Appreciating Their Marathon Existence, published in 1993. This landmark study determined the priorities and plans for the Institute.
Utilizing findings of the CARE-NET study, in 1993 RCI was awarded funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts of Philadelphia to implement a support and training project for caregivers in the West Central Georgia region. The project’s centerpiece was a five-week education and support program for professional and family caregivers called Caring for You, Caring for Me. Mrs. Carter made the first presentation of the Rosalynn Carter Caregiving Award later that year to Rose Nakamura of Project Dana. The highest award given in the field, it was developed to recognize an individual for leadership and innovation in caregiving. In addition to a statue executed by the renowned sculptor Frank Eliscu, designer of the Heisman Trophy, a cash award of $2,500 was also made.
In a drive to heighten public awareness of caregiving issues, in 1994 Rosalynn Carter blended information from the CARE-NET study with her personal caregiving experiences in Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers, published by Time Books/Random House.
Through the generosity of Americus residents John (now deceased) and Betty Pope, in 1996 the Pope Fellowship Program was established to provide financial support for outstanding individuals pursuing training and careers in fields related to caregiving. The program provided a structure and course of study intended to prepare students for leadership in the field. With matching funds from the University System of Georgia, the John and Betty Pope Distinguished Chair in Caregiving was also initiated at the RCI.
In 1997, the Institute initiated a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to replicate CARE-NET in an adjacent 18-county region, referred to as the South Georgia CARE-NET. During this initiative, enhancements were also made to the West Central Georgia CARE-NET, including the provision of care management for caregivers, expansion of access to education and support programs, and development of computer applications to assist caregivers. Under this grant, a Leader Preparation workshop for the Caring for You, Caring for Me program was developed and field-tested.
The RCI’s education and training program Caring for You, Caring for Me along with the book Caring and Competent Caregivers were published in 1998.
In 1999, May Wykle, PhD, RN, FAAN, became the first John and Betty Pope Distinguished Chair in Caregiving. May is Dean and Cellar Professor of Gerontological Nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, and Director of the University Center on Aging and Health at Case Western Reserve University.
In 2001, the RCI received a three-year grant from the Administration on Aging, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, to expand the CARE-NET model throughout Georgia. In addition to the West Central Georgia CARE-NET and South Georgia CARE-NET, 10 additional CARE-NETS were developed in partnership with Area Agency on Aging locations throughout the state. All 12 CARE-NETs remain active today.
Also in 2001, Johnson & Johnson partnered with the RCI to establish a signature program in caregiving. The partnership builds on Johnson & Johnson’s credo to be “responsible to the communities in which we live and work” and “encourage…better health and education” and the foundational work in caregiving conducted by the RCI. In 2002, the J&J/RCI Caregivers Program began awarding grants to community organizations throughout the U. S. and Puerto Rico who were working collaboratively to implement programs to support caregivers. Seven expert caregiving panels were held throughout the year to help answer questions of “what’s known” and “what’s needed” in caregiving.
Shirley Travis, PhD, RN, CS of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Kay Brown, BSN, MPA of the Visiting Nurses Association of America served as John and Betty Pope Distinguished Chairs in Caregiving from 2001 to 2003.
In January of 2003, former President Jimmy Carter donated $370,000 of his 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Award to the RCI. Between 2003 and 2004, three additional caregiving expert panels were convened by the J&J/RCI Caregivers Program.
After his death in 2004, RCI began a scholarship to honor renowned poet and peacemaker Mattie Stepanek, who served along with Mrs. Carter as Honorary Co-Chair of the RCI’s Intergenerational Caregiving expert panel in July 2003. This scholarship seeks to provide financial assistance to family, professional, or paraprofessional caregivers who are seeking training or education in specific skills, procedures and strategies that lead to more effective care, while also protecting the health and well-being of the caregiver. Four scholarships are awarded annually, and Mattie’s mother Jeni serves as Chair of the Scholarship Selection Committee.
In June of 2004, the RCI held a Gala Celebration of Caregivers at Symphony Hall in Atlanta, Georgia. Neil Shulman, M.D., the real “Doc Hollywood”; Miss Atlanta and Miss Georgia 2004 Danica Tisdale, and RCA Triple-platinum recording artist Clay Aiken paid tribute to caregivers in attendance. The RCI presented its first Caring & Competent Caregiver Awards at the event to recognize America’s unsung heroes.
After the destructive hurricanes of 2004, the J&J/RCI Caregivers Program provided grant funds to community agencies in the amount of $100,000 to help ensure that caregivers continued to receive necessary support services that were suspended or stopped due to property and financial damages suffered by providers. An additional $100,000 in emergency funding was allocated to agencies in 2006 after yet another devastating hurricane season.
The 2nd edition of the RCI’s signature education and training program, Caring for You, Caring for Me: Education and Support for Family and Professional Caregivers was published in 2007, and the one day Leader Preparation workshop was updated to reflect enhancements in the new program guide.
In 2006, Richard Birkel, Ph.D. was appointed Executive Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute and in 2007 was named the fourth Pope Eminent Chair in Caregiving at Georgia Southwestern State University.
In 2007, the RCI made a strategic decision to begin actively working to support implementation of evidence-based caregiver programs at all levels, launching the National Quality Caregiving Network (NQCN) in cooperation with long-time partner Johnson & Johnson at the RCI’s annual conference “Moving Science to Practice in Caregiver Support: A National Summit”. A learning community comprised of community-based demonstration sites, caregiving coalitions and researchers all working in partnership to develop effective strategies to translate programs for community use, develop agency readiness to implement programs with fidelity, and create supportive policy, funding, and community systems; the NQCN seeks to actively share lessons learned with the field in order to accelerate dissemination of effective programs. The Rosalynn Carter Caregiving Award was renamed to the Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award to recognize leadership in implementing innovative partnerships between community organizations and caregiving researchers. The Georgia Caregiver of the Year Awards were initiated to honor the work and focus public attention on the contributions of family, volunteer and para-professional caregivers. These awards were made during an Awards Banquet that took place in conjunction with the National Summit.
Also during this time, an online database of evidence-based interventions was developed, and the J&J/RCI Caregivers Program began funding translations of evidence-based caregiver interventions with five awards of $100,000 every two years.
RCI officially launched the Caregiving Specialist Certificate in 2008, an interdisciplinary program designed to prepare students for continued study, specialized work or a career in a caregiving field. This Certificate is the only one of its kind in the country and represents a unique commitment of Georgia Southwestern State University to prepare leaders in the field of Caregiving. Pope Fellows are required to complete the certificate program in addition to their degree coursework.
Also in 2008, RCI was awarded an AoA three-year demonstration grant to implement REACH II in rural, southwest Georgia. Focused on those who care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia, the program is offered in 8 rural counties in southwest Georgia including Crisp, Dooly, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Schley, Sumter, Taylor and Webster, and in the city of Columbus.
With funding received from Healthcare Georgia Foundation that same year, the Georgia CARE-NET’s established the Georgia CARE-NET Coalition to promote the health of Georgia’s caregivers through advocacy and training, offering state-wide training opportunities in several evidence-based caregiver programs.
RCI’s 2008 Conference, “Raising the Bar – Evidence-Based Programs for Caregivers” helped provide a road map for how to practically move towards implementation of proven-effective caregiver support programs in communities around the country.
In 2009, RCI was awarded its second AoA demonstration grant, this time to implement the Georgia Family Support Program, a translation of the New York University Caregiver Intervention. The NYUCI provides assistance to spousal caregivers of Alzheimer’s/Dementia patients and their families. This translation will focus on providing the intervention to families through the Northeast Georgia Area Agency on Aging and the Southern Crescent Area Agency on Aging.
RCI held a full-day session at the 2009 Aging in America Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, titled “Evidence-Based Programs for Caregivers: Yes, You Can!” Almost 300 attendees from across the nation learned about specific evidence-based programs from the investigators who developed them. A model for evidence-based implementation was also shared.
In October of 2009, RCI held its National Summit and Training Institute, “Crossing the Bridge from Science to Service”, continuing the theme of assisting agencies in bringing evidence-based caregiver programs to their local communities.
In March 2010, RCI will launch its first international partnership "RCI-Korea", with Korea Digital University in Seoul, Korea. The partnership will result in the online availability of an eighteen-credit program (six courses) in caregiving targeted to administrators, agency staff and family caregivers.
