Someone Like You : Looking ‘Nice’ Won’t Keep AIDS Away, Infected Woman Tells Teens

Kim Richartz’s doctor assured her that AIDS couldn’t happen to someone like her.

The young woman, who graduated from Cal Poly Pomona, was tired all the time and had a series of bladder infections after giving birth to her daughter four years ago. She asked about an AIDS test, but the doctor brushed away her fears, saying her condition was normal after a pregnancy.

“It was that stupid notion, that you could look at a person and tell if they were HIV-positive,” Richartz said.

Richartz remembered the nurse saying she “looked like such a nice girl, not the high-risk type” for contracting the AIDS virus.

Now 26, Richartz lives with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. Her husband, Joel, has not contracted the virus, but their 4-year-old daughter, Meagan, is HIV-positive.

Convinced that she contracted the virus in high school through unprotected sex, Richartz decided to share her story to help other young people learn from her mistake.

Richartz joined the Foothill AIDS Project speakers bureau in Pomona. She helped found Family Connection, a support network for parents with HIV-positive children.

And, with help from pharmacist Ray Yutani of La Mirada, whom she met through the speaker’s bureau, Richartz made a 12-minute video, “It Won’t Happen to Me.”

Yutani, who has a daughter at La Mirada High, wanted to help put together an AIDS awareness program for high school students. He persuaded Richartz to make the video.

On screen, she says she insisted on taking the HIV test and described her reaction when she got the results.

“I started crying, I was so distraught,” Richartz said. “And Meagan started screaming and crying because I was crying.”

Richartz was depressed for a year, she said. “Then I realized: ‘I’m still alive. I better do something else with my life.’ ”

The film was shown recently to La Mirada High School students. Permission forms were sent out to students’ parents, and only two students out of about 2,000 did not attend. The presentations were given over two days to groups of 100.

Principal Howard Haas said the students were impressed. “It’s a cliche, but you could have heard a needle drop. I saw no laughter or embarrassment.”

The students said they were moved by Richartz and her daughter.

“We didn’t realize it was her when we came in. All of a sudden, she’s sitting right there,” said Chris Caffey, 17.

“It’s different to see people on TV and say ‘Oh, they have AIDS.’ It doesn’t really impact you until you see them in real life,” said Jason Goulden, 18.

Richartz said her story helps make the AIDS danger real for some of the students.

“They are so shocked to see someone like me with AIDS,” Richartz said. “Before they meet someone like me, they don’t think it could happen to them.”

Richartz said she is infected because of her low self-esteem when she was in high school. “I needed acceptance from males.” After high school, Richartz attended Mills College and Cal Poly Pomona, where she studied ornamental horticulture. She met her husband there, and after they married, they worked in a Pomona nursery.

Richartz quit in the final stages of her pregnancy. Her husband quit after the company cut off their health benefits after officials discovered that Richartz was HIV-positive.

The Richartzes and their daughter live with Kim Richartz’s parents in Pomona.

Richartz said that in addition to speaking about living with HIV, she also participates in a support group with other women who are HIV-positive.

Her daughter goes to preschool five days a week. “When you look at her, she looks fine,” Richartz said. But because the girl’s immune system is weak, she “catches everything and anything.”

Richartz said Meagan knows how she got sick. “She knows she got it from me, and that I didn’t do it on purpose, and that I’m sorry. She knows she is going to die, and I’m going to die.”

After Ritchartz told the La Mirada students her story, some of the teachers asked students to write about their impressions of the presentation.

About 25 letters were forwarded to Yutani a few days later.

“I am a senior, and feel like the last American virgin,” one student wrote. “Since I’ve seen (the video), I have changed my mind on being sexually active. I am now aware of the dangers.”

“It’s great to get letters like that,” Richartz said. But she is still concerned.

“Sometimes I think that high school is too late, “ she said. “Kids need to start finding out about this in junior high.”