Rosalynn Carter's Grandson Shares His Caregiving Experience in New Film Produced by Bradley Cooper (Exclusive)
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Josh Carter, whose youngest son was diagnosed with a rare chronic disorder as an infant, speaks on his grandparents' mission to lift up family caregivers for a powerful new documentary project
Josh Carter Josh Carter with his wife, Sarah, and sons, Charlie and Jonathan
Rosalynn Carter and her family's vast experiences with caregiving are being put on display as part of a broader public service campaign helmed by Bradley Cooper and D.C.-based public broadcasting station WETA.A new documentary short — which kicks off an ongoing series on the impact of caregiving — premieres on Monday, Oct. 7, delving into the former first lady's mission to better support caregivers, and how her dedication to the topic trickled down to younger generations of Carters. Below, PEOPLE shares a first look at the clip.
Related: Rosalynn Carter’s Tireless Advocacy on Topics of Mental Health and Caregiving Comes Full Circle
Josh Carter, the grandson of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter by way of their son Jeff, is a repeat family caregiver. In Caregiving: Generations — one chapter of a larger Caregiving documentary that will premiere on PBS next year — he talks about his first experience caring for a loved one, before he had fully processed Rosalynn's tireless work in raising awareness on the issue.“My mom’s mother [Dorothy Davis] was a big part of our life. She was as involved as you would hope a grandma would be. But when I was about to start ninth grade, she had her stroke," Josh says in the video. "Caregiving became a full-time responsibility for the whole family. The toll it took on our family was real."He continues: "Taking care of a loved one, it’s something that we do out of love, it’s something we could do that is-- that we do out of need and necessity. But it is hard, and it’s lonely, and the resources just aren’t there.”
Related: How Rosalynn Carter’s Focus on Caregivers Fit into the Broader Theme of Her ‘Enduring’ Mental Health Activism
Josh Carter Josh Carter with his maternal grandmother, Dorothy Davis, on a 1998 trip to Alaska
After learning the importance of family caregiving firsthand through his experience with Davis, Josh was then ready to step up when his youngest son, Jonathan, was diagnosed with a rare and chronic intestinal disorder as an infant.“Now I have a sixth grader, Charlie, and I have a kindergartener, Jonathan. When Jonathan was 3 months old, we were changing his diaper and instead of what you’d normally expect for a diaper, we saw blood," Josh explains in the film. "Charlie was 6 and we tried very hard to make sure Charlie knew that he was a loved member of the family, but every single day was consumed around Jonathan and consumed around Jonathan’s care.""Charlie’s going through what I went through, and what my grandmother went through: Learning that caregiving is a necessary part of a loving family," he says.
Related: Rosalynn Carter’s Great-Grandson Charlie, 10, Shares ‘Favorite Memory’ with ‘Mama Carter’ (Exclusive)
Jeff Carter Josh and Sarah Carter bring their son Jonathan to visit with former first couple Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter
Josh notes in the film that he didn't recognize the significance of Rosalynn's activism in the caregiving space "until I was able to step away from the crisis at my own house."He learned that when Jimmy's political career in Georgia was on the rise, Rosalynn got to know many families who were struggling to keep up with the demands of caregiving and feeling isolated in the process."Rosa knew exactly what that household looked like, and she knew that there were things that the government could do to help people that are in such dire needs. When my grandfather won the race, then she sought out to change things for the better for family caregivers," he says. "One of the main focuses of my grandmother’s life was to find people that were invisible and make them visible."Rosalynn, who founded the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers in 1987, famously testified before Senate decades later that, "There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregiving. That's all of us."
Related: Jimmy Carter’s Family Says His Home Is Missing Something Without Rosalynn: ‘We Felt That Immediately’ (Exclusive)
Melissa Montgomery A Carter family gathering (left to right): Jimmy, Charlie, Jonathan, Rosalynn, Josh, Jeff and Sarah
Caregiving: Generations was tapped to premiere at the United Nations' International Day of Older Persons celebration on Oct. 7, along with a teaser trailer of WETA's larger Caregiving project, which features Bradley Cooper talking about his personal attachment to the subject."I didn't even think about caregiving until my father was diagnosed with cancer," Cooper says in the video, seen below. "My dad was somebody who I idolized, I used to dress up like him when I was a kid in kindergarten and get made fun of because I wanted to wear a suit and tie. And then to go from that to giving him a bath is quite a traumatic thing."
The U.N.'s screening of the clips launches the national engagement campaign surrounding the Caregiving documentary and fittingly aligns with this year's UNIDOP theme, "Ageing with Dignity: The Importance of Strengthening Care and Support Systems for Older Persons Worldwide."PBS' flagship D.C. station, WETA, started Well Beings, a multi-year public health project, to shed light on critical health issues in America. The Caregiving documentary is the next feature film in the Well Beings series, and will premiere in full as a two-hour primetime special in Spring 2025.Caregiving is presented by WETA and executive produced by Lea Pictures and WETA in association with Ark Media. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People.
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