Community Service Archives

Nov 13

USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology receives $750,000 federal aging in place grant

By Orli Belman Academics, Community Service, Environment, Featured, Health and Wellness, Research

Funding will promote access to home modification and includes a focus on tribal and rural communities.

Sep 25

Home safe home

By USC Leonard Davis Communications Caregiving, Community Service, Environment, Featured, Health and Wellness, Lifespan Health

Grab bars. No-skid bathtub strips. Brighter lighting. Ramps instead of stairs. These aren’t the items on a typical home improvement checklist. But for older adults, they can literally be lifesaving additions to a house.

May 31

Cultural understanding through crayons: art brings Jewish generations together

By USC Leonard Davis Communications Community Service, Cultural Affairs, Demography, Featured, Intergenerational

Dor Vador, a program funded by the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, aims to encourage understanding and enhance communication between children and the elderly in Los Angeles’ Jewish community.

May 15

Student designers make everyday items and spaces safer and easier to use for all

By Beth Newcomb Community Service, Environment, Featured, Intergenerational, School Culture, Students

The Morton Kesten Universal Design Competition recognizes extraordinary designs for products and spaces that make life easier for everyone, including older or disabled individuals.

Apr 12

USC Leonard Davis alumna Laura Trejo reaches out and builds bridges

By Beth Newcomb Alumni, Community Service, Featured, School Culture

Laura Trejo '82, MSG/MPA '86 listens and communicates across disciplines and cultures as general manager of the L.A. Department of Aging.

Mar 20

Giving back “comes naturally” for USC Leonard Davis supporter Keith Renken

By USC Leonard Davis Communications Caregiving, Community Service, Featured, Giving

The USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology has been a recipient of Keith Renken's support through the establishment of a scholarship fund, the Renken Family Scholarship, as well as his leadership as former chair of the school’s Board of Councilors.

Mar 14

Students take steps to make Los Angeles more livable for older adults

By Orli Belman Alumni, Caregiving, Community Service, Demography, Environment, Featured, Health and Wellness, School Culture, Students

From keeping pedestrians safe in Glendale to connecting people to social opportunities in Cudahy, USC students developed interactive tools to help improve quality of life for seniors across the Los Angeles region.

Aug 08

Jeff Laguna outside USC Leonard Davis School

Managing Pain Via a Mobile Phone App

By Jonathan Riggs Community Service, Featured, Students, Technology

USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology doctoral student Jeff Laguna (Photo/Trevor Nelson)

While there are many programs to manage pain, many seriously ill patients find that their pain is frequently unrecognized and untreated. While palliative care efforts are documented as an effective intervention, they function best when the caregiver or clinician is attuned as possible to the patient’s varying state. Obviously, this is a challenge for all involved.

“We decided to look at the use of a smartphone to monitor the pain and symptoms of seriously ill patients,” said Jeff Laguna, a USC Leonard Davis School doctoral candidate who worked closely with his advisor, USC Leonard Davis assistant professor Susan Enguídanos. “We wanted to empower patients, caregivers and the palliative care team with the latest technology to give a voice to their needs and how they can be met.”

Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that involved the USC Leonard Davis School, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the USC School of Social Work and HealthCare Partners, Laguna and his team remotely monitored at-risk patients using the smartphone app, ManageMyPain.

The app allowed patients to describe pain characteristics, including intensity, location, character, timing and factors that either aggravated or alleviated the pain. Participants took 5-10 minutes to input their pain on a daily basis, and this data was transmitted to the research team.

“We found several potential barriers, including the ability of participants to use the touch screen successfully, read the font and navigate the phone and app in general,” Laguna said. “These barriers can be frustrating, but identifying them helps us make the app more user-friendly and successful for all potential users.”

By putting this powerful tool literally in the hands of patients, caregivers and the palliative care team, Laguna hopes that other researchers will follow his lead and design more technology for older adults and for all their changing needs. While pain management and palliative care places the focus on end-of-life, the opportunities are there to enhance the quality of life for older adults in every season and state of health.

“Digital aging has the potential to help everyone: older adults who can benefit from increased services and solutions as well as those who care for them and people who are looking to the future and their own aging,” Laguna said. “We found that older adults have an interest in learning new technology, especially if it’s intended to help their care, but there aren’t enough products for them yet. We’re calling for hardware and software innovations so we can best serve this population with this technology, and we’re looking to a wide variety of USC experts to make this dream come true.”