Corrections_Today_Spring_2025_Vol.87_No.1

OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL HEALTH

The Nuts and Bolts of ACA-Project ECHO

Although the ACA-Project ECHO model and plans for imple mentation are not fully developed at this time, there is both a great deal of optimism as well as excite ment by both correctional and CDC professionals about this project. It will weave together correctional health professionals in both prisons and jails across the country into a correctional community of practice. It promises to enable healthcare providers to learn new information and treatment guidance, to share

virtual community with their peers where they share support, guidance and feedback.” iECHO provides a remarkable tool to distribute best practices across a community of providers, or others such as peers in the correctional setting. ECHO is really a product of its participants, and each ECHO program moves in the direction chosen by those participants.

As the illustration below sug gests, the various components of ACA-Project ECHO are designed to fit together like a wheel and its spokes. There is a central “specialist team” at the center of the project. This team is referred to as “the Hub.” The ACA ECHO Project Hub will reside at the American Correctional Association offices in Alexandria, Virginia. The Hub

information and treatment experiences with others and to feel a linkage to their community of cor rectional healthcare professionals. The iECHO Platform The ECHO

provides the administrative organization, and the direc

tion for the project, as well as managing the

day-to-day activities and the administra

tive duties needed to design and develop the curriculum, the virtual logistics and to conduct the

Model utilizes the “ALL TEACH/ALL LEARN” concept to not only pro vide instruction to participants, but also to facilitate learning

monthly ACA Project ECHO sessions. In a circle surrounding the

ECHO Hub are the ECHO participants.

between those involved. Learning from each other is the hallmark of the Project

The ECHO participants are the healthcare profes sionals in prisons and jails around the country who have an interest in learning and sharing their learning experiences with their colleagues. All correctional health care providers are invited to attend. The ACA Hub team is planning to conduct as many sessions as needed based on the time zone variability across the country, the popularity of specific topics, and the inter est expressed by attendees. ECHO

ECHO model. To facilitate “ALL TEACH/ALL LEARN,” ECHO uti lizes a proprietary virtual learning network called iECHO. It utilizes Zoom technology to create a virtual learning environment. The Zoom platform is modified to meet spe cific needs posed by Project ECHO learning sessions. According to Project ECHO, “ECHO participants engage in a

All Teach, All Learn From: The ECHO Model — Project ECHO. https://projectecho.unm.edu/model. Downloaded 11/11/2024.

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