Digital Sherpa

Are you interested in enabling older cancer patients to become more health literate by helping them become more tech-savvy?
If so, the Digital Sherpa Program needs you! And, you’ll receive a $20 gift card for your help!

Patient Empowerment Network (PEN) is partnering with the Cancer Support Community to bring the Digital Sherpa Program to cancer patients and caregivers in the LA area and we would love to partner with your students to help make it happen. To successfully run the workshop, we need 15 students who can volunteer 3-4 hours of their time on Friday, October 11 from approx. 11am-2pm at the Cancer Support Community of Los Angeles (1990 S. Bundy Drive, Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90025) to assist cancer patients and their families with becoming more tech-savvy. PEN staff will supervise the students during the workshop and be available to sign off on volunteer hours. Pre-workshop training will be offered virtually prior to the workshop and can be completed at your convenience.

Below is a brief summary of the Digital Sherpa Program:

The Digital Sherpa Program aims to help cancer patients (mainly 65 and older) and their families become more tech-savvy. The program’s workshops educate patients and care partners in basic internet and social media skills to help them in their search for information about their illness and support for them and their families.

Cancer patients, known as “Climbers” in the program, are paired with university students, known as “Sherpas”, who have been specially trained by the Patient Empowerment Network to offer skills such as:

• Internet use (such as opening an email account, navigating Google, and creating and remembering passwords)

• Social media skills (including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram)

• Creating virtual connections with other cancer patients via on-line patient support communities

• How to use apps such as Uber and other ride-share services to get to appointments

By producing this program PEN and CSC want to show what can be done to help cancer patients and their families become more tech-savvy, educated, self-confident and in control of their cancer journey. By pairing digital natives (you!) with the older generation, we hope to create an empathetic and powerful relationship that is an asset to any community.

Here’s a link to a video that we produced to give potential partners a bit more insight into the positive impact of the program. Video: https://vimeo.com/194117518/7d9137b737.

For questions for more info please contact: andrea@powerfulpatients.org

Click this link to register: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090548a8a72aa7f58-2019

11am-2pm, free parking and lunch will be available