A visit to the Assisted Life of Aidshilfe Essen

Since Friedrich Stoll (last name changed), who is called Friedel, is HIV-positive, he does not know it. He was diagnosed in 2005, but he was probably infected much earlier. Stoll, 71, white haired, gray sweater and oversize plaid, had depended on heroin for over 40 years. He was probably infected by another junkie while spraying, he said, shrugging his shoulders. He came to the end of his illness: "What's coming, it's coming, I'm barely doing it."

What Stoll can say, is also due to the care he receives. He has been living for five years in support of the life of the Aidshilfe Essen. Every day he takes drugs that prevent the proliferation of viruses in his blood. HIV stands for "human immunodeficiency virus". The virus damages the body's defenses, the pathogens can no longer fight as well against the body. AIDS is when the body is so weakened that life-threatening diseases such as severe pneumonia occur. The viral disease is not curable, but since the 80s, when the diagnosis was essentially a death sentence, a lot has happened. "A normal life is possible in Germany today for every person infected with HIV," said NRW Aidshilfe general manager Patrik Maas. According to the badociation, 18,600 NRW people are HIV positive. On World AIDS Day, December 1, we remember those who have died of infection for 30 years. And for the destigmatization of those who live with.

For Friedel Stoll, a normal life means getting old with the virus without suffering from AIDS. In addition to the daily tablet, it can be examined once a month at Essen University Hospital. Over the past five years, the 71-year-old has lived in a small apartment on the ground floor in Aidshilfe, in the heart of Essen. Two bedrooms, one with a kitchenette, a white porcelain dog in the hallway, a TV that runs almost all day. "Fortunately for me to be here." Every Tuesday he helps at the Aidshilfe breakfast cafe. Once a month, there is a meeting of residents, otherwise Stoll likes to stay for himself. In his apartment, his retirement.

Aged 71, born in Essen, went to school and did a mason apprenticeship. Then he should go to the Bundeswehr – and high. In Berlin, where, in 1962, he tried heroin for the first time. And became addicted. For more than 40 years, he regularly sprayed the fabric, moved from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main and finally to Essen. He lived for a few years with his brother and was sent to prison. "It's called the crime of contracting," says Stoll. But in the prison, he was offered a withdrawal and he has been clean for a few years. Largely. Every few months, he relapsed, "then he climbs on the tracks", as says Daniela Flötgen, who runs the counseling service at the Aidshilfe Essen.

The badociation occupies nearly 200 customers intensively. Not all are HIV-positive, for example, there are groups of older gay men or the Nachtfalke project, where men in search of prostitution can be counseled. On the ground floor there is a café and in the next house Friedel Stoll lives on the ground floor. All residents of the house are taken care of outpatient, the office next to Stoll's apartment is busy every day. In total, about 70 people participate in the program. According to Daniela Flötgen, they are all "in a difficult situation": depressed, addicted, mentally ill or simply HIV positive. People infected with HIV are more likely to be sick and need help to cope with the virus, for example consulting a doctor or recognizing a severe disability. The few studies of HIV-positive older people indicate that infected people suffer more from cardiovascular disease and cancer and die earlier. The Flötgen, depending on their often difficult lifestyle, can be linked. And with many of them being diagnosed late.

Like Friedel Stoll. He never had the idea that he might be HIV positive. The virus was discovered during a hospital examination, in which a single dislocated shoulder should be replenished. "I was often sick, I had colds, flu, pneumonia," Stoll says. "But I never went to the doctor." He only told his brother that he is visiting regularly today. "Who else?" The 71-year-old has never been married, he has no children. "It was not because of the addiction," he says simply. But there is a girlfriend, Regina, for 13 years already. A former badton from Essen, who has a garden where he often visits her. He also told her about his illness, "just before our first meeting," he says. With the drug, the risk of infection is zero. Regina stayed. But living together is out of the question for Friedel Stoll: "I need freedom and peace."

He wants to stay in his apartment while he can. He does not know how it will continue afterwards. According to Daniela Flötgen, most nursing homes are not designed to meet the needs of older people infected with HIV or drug addicts. The Aidshilfe can not offer that either. "This requires social development, an open approach to the older generation," says Flötgen. The freedoms of the past wanted to appeal to many even the elderly, for example to live their baduality or, like Friedel Stoll, "go from time to time on the slopes". Older people infected with HIV, such as Stoll, will be more common in the future, but this has hardly been a problem in retirement homes.

Stoll still does not want to take care of it anyway. But rather take life as it happens. "I'm fine," he said with a smile.