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Project ECHO: A Tele-Mentoring Movement Transforming Healthcare

What is Project ECHO?

Among the many challenges Kentuckians face in rural and underserved communities is healthcare access. This is especially true for older adults. In these communities, it can be difficult for individuals to find providers close to them who are educated in the complexities of caring for older adults. In 2018, the UofL Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging began using a new technology and training model, called Project ECHO®, to address this issue head-on.

Project Echo® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a tele-mentoring movement dedicated to sharing knowledge and amplifying the capacity of health care professionals to provide best practice care for underserved people all over the world. Recognizing a need for increased specialists, particularly in rural communities, Project ECHO utilizes the teleconferencing platform Zoom to create hub-and-spoke knowledge sharing networks around the world. By creating communities of learning Project ECHO improves treatment by moving information instead of people.

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Microclinics: Community Empowerment Approach to Health & Wellbeing

Microclinic FacilitatorsMicroclinic Facilitators at first training in July 2018

The Microclinic Model Team is a unique approach to community health and wellness.

A ‘microclinic’ is not a small building, but a human infrastructure - a health management collective composed of people who share access to education, technology and social support as members work together to prevent and manage deadly disease.  Microclinics are formed organically from extended families, small businesses, church groups, and more. Rather than attempting to create a new social support system, microclinics galvanize existing social networks. Built on relationships and social capital rather than bricks and mortar, microclinics put the power of health directly into the hands of the community.

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