Former US first lady Rosalynn Carter diagnosed with dementia

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Former US first lady Rosalynn Carter has been diagnosed with dementia, the Carter Center announced Tuesday.

Carter, 95, "continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones," the center said in a statement.

"We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support. We hope sharing our family's news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country," it said.

"As the founder of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, Mrs. Carter often noted that there are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. The universality of caregiving is clear in our family, and we are experiencing the joy and the challenges of this journey," it added.

The center said it does not expect to comment further on the former first lady's condition.

The news comes after it was announced in February that Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn's husband who was the US' 39th president, would begin receiving home hospice care in his native state of Georgia.

The decision to move the former president to hospice care followed a series of hospital visits that prompted the 98-year-old former president to decide "to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention," the center said at the time.