About RCI

The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) was established in 1987 on the campus of Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) in Americus, Georgia. The RCI was formed in honor of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, an alumna of GSW, to enhance her long-standing commitments to human development and mental health.

Mission and Philosophy

The Rosalynn Carter Institute establishes local, state and national partnerships committed to building quality long-term, home and community- based services. We believe this begins with providing caregivers with effective supports and making investments that promote caregiver health, skills and resilience. We also believe strongly in the need to provide greater recognition and support for professional and family caregivers. Our focus includes supporting individuals and caregivers coping with chronic illness and disability across the lifespan as well as limitations due to aging.

The Caregiver Crisis:

Read Rosalynn Carter's Editorial on Addressing the Caregiving Crisis in CDC's "Preventing Chronic Illness"

The Rosalynn Carter Institute on Caregiving is committed to leadership to meet the challenges of our nation's "Caregiver Crisis". The facts are stark:

The number of individuals in our society requiring personal assistance due to ill health, chronic conditions and disabilities is at an historic level and growing.
The number of individuals in our society available and trained to provide this assistance ("caregivers") has not kept pace with the need.
As the ratio of individuals with caregiving needs to both formal and family caregivers continues to escalate, the strains are becoming apparent.
- A 25-year body of research shows that family caregivers are at risk for a wide range of problems in the areas of health and mental health, finances, employment, and retirement. For instance, a recent study found that a third of family caregivers of persons with dementia were depressed. ⁽¹⁾
- Caregivers experiencing strain have a 63 percent higher risk of mortality than others, even when adjusted for chronic disease and other risk factors. ⁽²⁾
- Family caregivers are largely neglected by the health and long-term care systems. Frequently, they are not trained on how to deliver complicated care, treated as partners in the patient’s care, or encouraged to maintain their own health.
- Professional caregivers also work under difficult conditions and are vulnerable to many of the same problems as family caregivers.
- The cost to U.S. businesses due to lost productivity of working caregivers is estimated at between $17.1 billion and $33.6 billion per year and growing. ⁽³⁾

Meeting the Challenge: Supporting Caregivers

RCI believes that to address the caregiving crisis in America, all sectors of society must come together in new ways to develop solutions. A broad and coordinated response includes attention to workforce development, community planning, caregiver education and support, development and dissemination of evidence-based programs to support caregivers, financing, regulatory issues and more effective use of technology. Beyond this, and perhaps most importantly, we believe there must be a fundamental shift in how our nation values caregiving and caregivers.