In 1995, does exactly 27 years old, Colombian Luis Rodríguez, a resident of Queens, received what at the time was a double death sentence: he tested positive for HIV.
“¿ How many years do I have left to live, doctor?” He asked as soon as he received the result with trembling hands. At that time, he was certain that his life would be very short.
It was a time when in New York City, deaths from HIV-AIDS were alarming news, within the gay and trans collective.
Those were times of painful stigmas, around an infection, that for many was still disparagingly described as a ‘gay cancer’.
It was a time when even the hospital medical staff treated the sick as if they had a “plague”, which spread just by being close.
“ It was terrible. I lived through very painful moments at Elmhurst Hospital, here in Corona. Months after the diagnosis, I was hospitalized for a few weeks. I was very weak. With a fever that started every day at five in the afternoon. At that time there were no such effective treatments, as now”, commented the South American immigrant, who had come to the Big Apple fleeing from a society where in the years 78, if you were suspected of being gay, almost immediately, you earned epithets like “deviant crap”, “butterfly” or “doll”.
Luis now has 80 years. He feels healthy. With desire to continue living. And continue traveling the world, next to his current partner, with whom he has traveled the last 20 years. In addition, it has the availability of state-of-the-art antiretroviral treatments, which allows the virus to be “undetectable” in its blood.
A couple of decades ago, I could not even dream that it could reach to the 60 years.
“Of course I fell into depression and despair. It affected me a lot to learn that I had a virus, which at that time was simply said in the news, that it was something that was killing homosexuals. Tell me when actor Rock Hudson died! It was devastating”, he described.
New Yorkers with HIV are getting older
Like Luis, thousands of older New Yorkers are surviving with HIV. But not everyone has the same physical and emotional quality of life.
In fact, the New York State (NYS) Department of Health calculated that for the year 2020, the 70% of people living with HIV would have 50 years of age or older.
This “statistical number” poses many challenges for New York and the need to redirect care towards thousands of seropositive patients (HIV carriers) for whom this infection, in itself, is not a problem, but loneliness is. and the wounds left by years of aggression, stigma and prejudice. And all the uncertainties that growing old means.
Since the middle of the years 90, antiretroviral therapies marked a milestone for those living with HIV, since they extended survival, improved quality of life and “chronified” the disease, opening the way to the first generation of people who are already older adults, with a a condition that ceased to be a death sentence.
A few years ago, without the treatments developed in recent years, the virus used to evolve into AIDS. In the vast majority of cases, those infected ended up dying from one or more opportunistic diseases.
Globally, more than half of people with HIV have more than 50 years. A decade ago, this percentage was only 8%. Estimates are that in 1995 the number will reach 50%.
Aging in NY
With this vision, Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed the law (S.78-A/A.7855) which modifies the program administered by the New York State Office for the Aging, which supports to aging New Yorkers.
This rule approved by the State Assembly clarifies that the Americans Over Age Act 1965, which directs funding and services based on identifying the “greatest social needs”, does not include consideration of barriers or isolation caused by racial and ethnic status sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV serological status.
And, precisely, this new law guarantees to rethink services to support the ability of each individual to live in independently, in each of these groups.
“There is a drastic inequality in the physical and mental care of older adults in the LGBTQ community. This legislation is an important step in addressing those inequalities and helping them receive the same respect and support as anyone else in the state,” explained the state president.
A group with the greatest need for social care
Currently, federal law requires state plans that administer Older Americans Act (OAA) programs and services to target populations in rural areas, with various disabilities, with limited English proficiency, with Alzheimer’s and related disorders, and economic limitations.
Therefore, it is very clear that the federal OAA of 1965, does not specifically include LGBTQ older adults, in any of its guidelines.
But what is possible is that each state can include LGBTQ older adults in their plans this such, to manage OAA programs and services, and this new legislation will codify their inclusion, in addition to allocating resources for older adults living with HIV, classified as a population of “greatest social need” in the Law of Older Adults of the New York State.
In this way, New York will join other states, which already recognize the unique social needs of this population, such as California and Illinois, and will guarantee that LGBTQ older adults are provided with the services and supports they need as they age.
According to reports from the organization SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elderly), LGBTQ older adults often lack traditional sources of support and care.
“They also tend to have poorer physical and mental health, and higher rates of poverty, than their non-LGBTQ counterparts. Additionally, they face a pronounced cultural and social isolation, as a result of decades of experience of real and perceived discrimination”, highlights this organization.
The pain of the pandemic
In this sense, the Puerto Rican activist, Aracelys Quiñones, who coordinates Poder Latino, the oldest orientation group in the country for those living with HIV, assures that the two years of the pandemic left very harsh sequels due to the isolation of its elderly members, who normally attended support group meetings.
“For years we got together to share experiences. In many cases it was the only way that many of our older adults who live alone had to socialize, to receive a hug, to talk. And the pandemic came and they had to isolate themselves. It was very hard,” said Quiñones, who is part of the Latino Commission against AIDS, since 1995.
Quiñones values all the new state initiatives, which allow the creation of segmented support programs for this community of New Yorkers who are aging, are members of the LGBTQ community and are also HIV carriers.
“What we have seen in our meetings is that they are very afraid of loneliness. It was a challenge to do our support meetings, during the months of pandemic restrictions, because although we scheduled them virtually, some did not have access to technology. They had no internet. And that allowed us to discover even more the need to offer more emotional support to hundreds of them who live alone”, he remarked.
Therefore, the experience of Luis Rodríguez, who has At her side, a companion, with whom she has grown old and who represents an important support for her life, is not the same as the majority of older adults in the same condition.
“My children treated me like garbage”
For example, the Ecuadorian Miguel Pereira, from 65 years old, a resident of Corona, in Queens, recounts that since his family learned of his diagnosis, he decided to “completely turn his back on it.”
“I am bisexual. I got infected ago years . When my two children found out, because I had to have an emergency operation, they treated me like garbage. They feel ashamed of me. And that is very painful. I don’t know how I’m alive. I’m fine because of the treatment they’ve given me, which is very good. But honestly, it’s not that I want to live a long time”, shared the immigrant.
Both Luis and Miguel, from their individual testimonies, agree that in New York City there are health programs very innovative and comprehensive for seropositive people.
“Those who don’t have access to treatment here, it’s simply because they don’t want to. The real problem is the mentality still of the Latin people towards this condition. They isolate you as if you had leprosy. It is normal for your family that you grow old with arthritis, with cardiovascular problems, but not with HIV. That is why there is so much loneliness”, confesses Miguel, who assures that during the pandemic, none of his children even worried about knowing if he was alive or dead.
Search for free resources and in Spanish:
- You can access a list of health services and s offered by the State of New York, related to HIV, at the following website: www.health.ny.gov/diseases/aids/general/resources/index.htm
- Resources available for older adults: You can access a list of resources for older adults on this website: www.aging.ny.gov/
- For support programs and emotional support for those living with HIV, there are several support groups in New York City. You can consult the resources available to the Latino Commission against AIDS at: https://www.latinoaids.org/
- The Department of New York City Seniors also has multiple resources to support seniors: Call 100-244-2048 or 311. You have the option to visit: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dfta/index.page
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4 keys on HIV-AIDS
- HIV is the Human immunodeficiency virus. HIV can be present in the body for decades without causing symptoms or having health consequences, for this reason it is important to perform screening tests to prevent contagion.
- AIDS comes from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the most advanced stage of the disease caused by HIV in which the virus destroys CD4 cells, that are part of the immune system.6610185467700357602
- People with the virus can have quality of life, if they detect it in time and take the appropriate medications to control the viral load in your body. If they don’t, HIV progresses to AIDS.
- Antiretroviral therapy (ART) does not it cures the disease, but helps reduce the risk of spreading the virus to others. What they do is reduce the amount of virus in the body until it is undetectable and untransmittable. Therefore, a person can contract HIV and not be able to spread it, much less reach the stage of having AIDS.