The Savvy Senior
\nBy Robert Goodman, MSW
\nThe Birds and the Bees
\nSeveral years ago a friend decided to start dating after the death of her husband. Before she started dating again I told her I wanted to talk to her about something. She said \u201cYou\u2019re not going to talk to me about the birds and the bees are you?\u201d I said I was and proceeded to talk about sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS. She was shocked by both my bringing up the subject and by the statistics. But this is a conversation that everyone must have.
\nThe availability of erectile dysfunction medications has resulted in increased sexual activity among the elderly. Older adults continue to be sexually active. They also are less likely to use protection because pregnancy is not an issue after menopause. The Centers for Disease Control explains that seniors might be less knowledgeable about HIV\/AIDS and therefore less likely to protect themselves with condoms or seek testing.
\nHeterosexual adults over age 50 account for an increasing proportion of persons living with HIV\/AIDS. Statistics compiled by the New York City Department of Aging (DFTA) report that 14% of all reported HIV\/AIDS cases in the United States in 2004 were among people over age 50. The HIV\/AIDS issue has moved from a problem in the gay and white communities to a problem faced by minorities and the elderly. In 2003, 52% of older Americans living with HIV\/AIDS were either Black or Hispanic. In addition, people who were diagnosed with HIV\/AIDS at a younger age are living longer as a result of new medications.
\nThe NYCDFTA also found that:
\nOlder adults who are exposed to HIV are at greater risk than younger people because of weakened immune systems.
\nHealth providers may not screen older adults for sexually
\ntransmitted diseases because of lack of training or ageist attitudes.
\nOlder adults are not diagnosed properly as having HIV\/AIDS
\nbecause many of the symptoms resemble the symptoms of old age.
\nIn 2009, nearly 20 percent of all new HIV and 25 percent of all AIDS diagnoses in Florida were in those older than 50. More than half of the cases were among those who live in South Florida, according to the Broward County Health Department.
\nSome state projections say that the majority of people with the disease will be seniors by the year 2015.
\nSusan Mintz has been aware of this subject for 30 years since her husband was diagnosed with HIV. She explains that the baby boomers who are now aging live with a 60s mentality that we are as invincible now as when we were teenagers. She states \u201c that we are now playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun.\u201d Many baby boomers continue to use drugs and are increasingly exposed to this disease as they start dating after the loss of a spouse.
\nEducating older adults about HIV\/AIDS has become her passion and priority. Her goal is to prevent the spread of this disease. She facilitates a support group to educate older adults about sexually transmitted diseases in our clubhouse in her quest to reach this goal. \u201cWe need to talk about it.\u201d She explains, \u201cthis issue is not necessarily about you, but about the ones around you. We need to be concerned about our friends, acquaintances, and family members.\u201d
\nThe HIV\/AIDS support group, which she calls \u201cI love my life\u201d meets on the first Monday of each month in Room G in the clubhouse at 4 PM. To learn more about the support group contact Susan at 561.271.1879.
\nYou can also learn more about her experience with HIV\/AIDS by visiting her website: www.susanmintz.com. For more information on STDs and older adults log onto www.cdcnpin.org\/scripts\/population\/elderly.asp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Savvy Senior By Robert Goodman, MSW The Birds and the Bees Several years ago a friend decided to start dating after the death of her husband. Before she started dating again I told her I wanted to talk to her about something. She said \u201cYou\u2019re not going to talk to me about the birds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[51,110,173],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-care-2","tag-aids","tag-hiv","tag-sexual-transmitted-disease"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1928,"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions\/1928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flnavigator.com\/healthfairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}