About Us

We support the well-being of aging adults living with or affected by HIV.

 

We envision a thriving, member-driven community that fosters hope and creates a sense of belonging among aging adults living with or affected by HIV and everyone who supports us.

Our Values

Belonging

If you are an aging adult living with or affected by HIV, you’re always welcome here.

Community-driven

We believe everyone who participates in Aging Well—from first-time visitors to longtime participants—should have a say in the direction of our community.

Visibility

We recognize, share, and honor the life experiences of all individuals in our community.

Learning

We’re committed to helping others understand our strengths, needs, and experiences—and in enlisting their commitments and resources to build support.

Resilience

We believe in the power of human connection to heal wounds and inspire hope.

Collaboration

We believe that we accomplish our best work with others, realizing that we strengthen each other by sharing each other’s values and resources.

Inclusion

We accept the responsibility for creating a positive culture, and safeguarding equity, dignity, and respect for all. We invite your suggestions on how we might improve.

Our Aging Well Team

  • Troy Preble

    Manager of Aging Well Programming
    Email Troy
    Troy was a volunteer with Aging Well pre-pandemic and later went to work for CAP SW WA for three years as a Peer Navigator and Manager.     See more about Troy’s work at CAP SW WA by clicking here. He brings his peer experience to this role where he aspires to create intentional connection with the Aging Well community and grow the membership of those aging with HIV and long-term survivors. Troy enjoys travel and has a particular devotion to his community gardening plot where he grows fresh produce to donate to local food banks. He is a long-term survivor diagnosed with AIDS in 1994 and brings that life experience of surviving the AIDS era, with all its scars, and fully understands how AIDS Survivor Syndrome affects his life today. Troy has a lifetime of mental health and addiction recovery behind him and will use that life experience in his role as Manager of Aging Well Programming. He has an ardent desire to improve the lives of the Aging Well community through improved health and wellness, physical and emotional. He plans to guide his work with the community through the lens of AIDS Survivor Syndrome which is a constellation of conditions such as anxiety and depression, survivors' guilt, social isolation, and social withdrawal with particular focus on how these issues affect the community of aging adults with HIV. Aging Well brings people together and builds community. We provide the opportunity to get out of the house, engage with each other, connect to services, volunteer in the community, and learn from each other. All these things can help people if they are experiencing isolation, depression, and loneliness. Troy invites you to join our Aging Well community where we improve our lives together.

  • Derek Webster

    Aging Well Program Coordinator
    Email Derek

    Derek grew up in the Phoenix Metro, but with family ties to the Pacific Northwest, the area has always felt like a second home. Derek moved to Portland in 2016 to pursue his education in nutrition science from National University of Natural Medicine, earning his BScN with Magna Cum Laude honors and MScN with a 4.0 GPA. Prior to his move, Derek worked as support staff in elementary autism education; he also holds associate degrees in Theatre Performance and Motion Picture/Television Production with focuses in screenwriting and film analysis/criticism. Derek is a gay man who has always had older partners and friendships with those a generation or two…or three older than himself, as well as friendships in his peer group; he is quite comfortable fostering intergenerational connections. Derek joined Aging Well as a participant in summer of 2019, during the first year of programming, after becoming friends with an older participant of the group. Two years later he was hired as the second ever program assistant; a year later in August of 2023, he became the first, full-time program coordinator of Aging Well. In his free time, Derek enjoys exploring the Northwest Portland neighborhood he now calls home with his partner and has a passion for cooking, or as he calls it, “getting weird in the kitchen!”

  • Bower Luna

    Aging Well Program Assistant
    Email Bower

    Bower has volunteered for CAP and participated in AIDS Walk NW after moving to Portland in 2021 and previously worked at an HIV/AIDS organization in Los Angeles as a coordinator in the Public Health Division. In this position he was able to gain exposure at Wellness Clinics, Testing, and Linkage Services, and was certified as an HIV tester. He was also a temporary staff member at AIDS/LifeCycle where he was part of a team assisting with logistics that set up camp in a different city every day for a week. He has worked for environmental and education nonprofits in San Francisco and Philadelphia, as well as the private sector for a variety of companies: an auction house in San Francisco, an advertising agency in NYC, and a vacation property management company in Portland. Bower was looking to return to nonprofit and was drawn to the Aging Well Program because of his lived experiences and believes the program offers important services. Having lived on both coasts - growing up in southwest Florida and living in California for 23 years - Bower finally made Portland his home after first visiting friends and family here over twenty years ago. He has an art degree where he studied printmaking and jewelry design and has enjoyed photography most of his life and continues to create art as a hobby. Bower and his partner spend weekends with friends, visiting plant nurseries for inspiration, thrifting, thinking about traveling, and morning cups of coffee in the backyard. He hopes to one day share his life stories like David Sedaris.

  • Brian Reeves

    Aging Well Program Specialist Email Brian
    Brian grew up in Lafayette, Indiana, home of Purdue University.  During middle school, the Ryan White HIV & AIDS controversy created public outrage and fear, which left a lasting impression on him.  He earned a degree in Computer Graphics Technology and was on the Dean’s list.  

    Brian moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, for his first engineering job, where he quickly met LGBT friends of all ages. He met the originator of the Indy Pride Parade and volunteered to help find a local car dealership to provide trucks to pull the floats. Many dealers refused, but one dealer was willing to support the event!  He joined the local Lambda Classic Car Club and restored a 1949 Studebaker himself. After spending his entire life in Indiana, Brian was looking for something different. His cousin, who had moved to the Portland, Oregon area, invited him to visit, tour the city and see the terrain.  

    In January 2020, Brian decided to make the move to Portland. A friend of his cousin introduced him to the Aging Well members, and he loved the group. The first couple of years were challenging, with the COVID lockdown and Oregon wildfires bringing smoke close to home. Slowly, life returned to normal. In August 2024, Brian applied for the new Aging Well Specialist position and is excited to have been selected. He looks forward to using his extensive knowledge of computer systems to educate the community about technology and internet safety training for aging adults. Will also be doing mental health screens with appropriate referrals if needed

To every long-term survivor, we say: You are not alone. You are welcome here. Your presence will make a difference.

Our Story

 

In the darkest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, few believed that people living with HIV would still be alive 10 years later, much less 35. The release of antiretroviral drugs in the mid-‘90s gave our community new hope, but even then most people didn’t give much thought to issues around HIV and aging.

Today, the number of aging adults living with or affected by HIV is substantial. More than half of the people living with HIV in the U.S. are over the age of 50, and estimates say that by 2030 the ratio will be closer to 70%.

Although we overcame the odds, many of us still carry scars from the struggle. Our community was decimated, our social networks torn apart. We lost partners, friends, and family. We were shunned and stigmatized. A 2018 study found that nearly three in four aging adults with HIV show some symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress.

Those of us who are HIV-negative also experienced trauma. We lost partners, friends, and family and today face our own hardships, including survivor’s guilt, depression, and loneliness.

But we’ve also demonstrated a remarkable perseverance and resilience. We discovered strength when it was most needed, and found support in the most unlikely places. Today we are seeing ways to move ahead and create the best possible life.

Our journeys vary, but many of us have found how to replace sorrows with joy, difficulties with determination, and turn our life experiences into sources of strength.

We all have a unique story—and each of our stories matters.

Aging Well exists to help aging adults who relate to these experiences—living with or affected by HIV—repair their social networks, build new ones, and create futures we never dreamed of.  We don’t “fix” members. We are a community that faces the challenges of aging with HIV together. We listen, we support, we accept, and we love.

To every long-term survivor, we say: You are not alone. You are welcome here. Your presence will make a difference.