Eventually, Dr. Arora's idea expanded from exclusively physicians exchanging ideas to inclusion of more participants getting involved. Photo from Pixabay
Project ECHO, which stands for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, is presented by the UAA Center for Human Development. The virtual learning ECHO meetings have resumed for the 2023-24 cycle.
ECHO was developed in New Mexico by Dr. Sanjeev Arora who had a patient – a widow with two children – with severe hepatitis C. The patient arrived at his clinic one day, eight years after her initial diagnosis. She had delayed treatment because she couldn’t take time off work to travel 5 hours from her rural home to get treatment in Albuquerque.
If the doctor in her town had known how to treat her, she could have received life-saving care close to home. As it was, she had waited too long and didn’t survive. Dr. Arora said in a Project Echo video that, “The right medical knowledge and expertise in the right hands at the right time could save millions of lives around the world.”
What started out as Arora sharing his protocol with other primary care physicians turned into an online knowledge sharing community. ECHO’s website explains that they “learn from experts and each other, where they could discuss real-life case examples that offered insight on New Mexico’s unique patients and systems. In one year, these clinicians became experts in the treatment of hepatitis C – the first success story of the global organization now known as ‘Project ECHO.’”
The Northern Light was present for the September ECHO events, both part of the Family Echo, which is designed to “increase knowledge and skills for parents & guardians who are raising and supporting young children and young adults (between birth and 26 years old) with behavioral and health-related diagnoses, trauma history, IDD, and related neurodevelopmental disabilities.” Field professionals, parents and guardians have been in attendance. Family ECHOs occur on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month.
There are more than ten other topics to choose from. The third week of each month is the busiest, with presentations on School Health, Home Visiting, Alaska Vaccine, and Perinatal Care.
In an email to The Northern Light, Project ECHO Director Jessica Harvill wrote that the staff is working to finalize the topics for 2023 through 2024 and that they are “working with Catholic Social Services on a new Refugee Mental Health ECHO that will launch in 2023.”
ECHO in Alaska is based out of UAA’s Center for Human Development which has been hosting ECHOs since 2017. Harvill wrote in her email that ECHO works with the UAA community as many within the community “serve as presenters, or subject matter experts,” and they reach out to “spread the word about upcoming ECHO series.”
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