For Jane Fowler, 1991 was starting out on a high note. On a cold January afternoon the professional journalist had just returned to her Kansas City apartment after a warm holiday visit with her son in California. But the January air turned suddenly colder when she opened a letter from a health insurance company to find that she had been rejected for coverage because of a "significant blood abnormality." Jane's mind began to race with the implication of those three words, but nothing she imagined could have prepared her for the news her doctor delivered the next day. On that day the 55-year-old woman discovered she was HIV positive.
Jane would never be classified as promiscuous. A self declared virgin on her wedding night, she remained faithful to her husband through 23 years of marriage. But in 1985, two years after divorcing her husband, she spent a romantic evening with an old family friend. Having already passed menopause, she wasn't worried about birth control, and since she had known her friend for many years she gave little thought to contracting any sexually transmitted diseases. He didn't offer to wear a condom and she didn't insist on it. Six years later the sad results of their decision would be the death of her friend and her own HIV infection.
Although the HIV infection rates in other segments of the American population are decreasing, they are actually increasing in the older population, especially in older women. In fact, between 11 and 15% of all U.S. AIDS cases are now found in people over the age of 50. Unfortunately healthcare officials are positive that these percentages are only the tip of the iceberg. It is their belief that many older women go undiagnosed. Many, like Jane Fowler, never consider themselves at risk. They still consider HIV and AIDS as strictly a problem for gays, or intravenous drug users. It could never happen to them. In addition most doctors and health facilities fail to check older individuals for HIV/AIDS, choosing to believe their symptoms are simply those ailments brought on by old age. Consequently when an older person is finally diagnosed with HIV it tends to be late in the infection when they are already ill with AIDS-related complications.
For Jane Fowler, it took four years of depression, secrecy and self-imposed isolation, before she finally made a decision to begin volunteering with a local AIDS organization. Sometime after that she began speaking out at conferences about her condition and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the elderly community. She also became one of the founders of The National Association of HIV Over 50, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating seniors about HIV/AIDS. Today, at 65, Jane Fowler continues to advocate for greater understanding, compassion and acceptance for older HIV-infected women and men. As she has pointed out time and again, "AIDS isn't just a young person's disease. Everyone is vulnerable, and age isn't a vaccine."
For more information about Jane Fowler and the National Association of HIV over 50, please visit their website or write them in care of:
The Good Samaritan Project
3030 Walnut Street
Kansas City, MO 64108-3811 
