Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) was established at the University of New Mexico in 2003. Using videoconferencing technology and enabling software, Project ECHO connects providers in underserved communities with specialists and experts for long-term tele- mentoring, collaboration, and case-based learning on urgent health conditions.
Today, people and organizations from all over the world leverage this ECHO ModelTM to scale their own social initiatives in health and in other fields like education and social justice. ECHO partners in 40 countries and operates more than 860 ECHO networks, which have trained more than 140,000 professionals eager to learn best practices in their field. For more information, please visit: echo.unm.edu.
Core Principals of Project Echo
The ECHO model is based on four principles, which develop knowledge and capacity through ongoing tele-mentoring and education:
- Amplification – use technology to leverage scarce resources
- Share Best Practice to reduce disparities
- Case Based Learning
- Monitor outcomes using a Web-based Database
Jennifer Bolander has been serving as a Special Education Specialist for PWSA (USA) since October of 2015. She is a graduate of John Carroll University and lives in Ohio with her husband Brad and daughters Kate (17), and Sophia (13) who was born with PWS.
Perry A. Zirkel has written more than 1,500 publications on various aspects of school law, with an emphasis on legal issues in special education. He writes a regular column for NAESP’s Principal magazine and NASP’s Communiqué newsletter, and he did so previously for Phi Delta Kappan and Teaching Exceptional Children.
Evan has worked with the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA) since 2007 primarily as a Crisis Intervention and Family Support Counselor. Evans works with parents and schools to foster strong collaborative relationships and appropriate educational environments for students with PWS.
Dr. Amy McTighe is the PWS Program Manager and Inpatient Teacher at the Center for Prader-Willi Syndrome at the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh. She graduated from Duquesne University receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education with a focus on elementary education, special education, and language arts.
Staci Zimmerman works for Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Colorado as an Individualized Education Program (IEP) consultant. Staci collaborates with the PWS multi-disciplinary clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Denver supporting families and school districts around the United States with their child’s Individual Educational Plan.
Founded in 2001, SDLC is a non-profit legal services organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the legal rights of people with disabilities throughout the South. It partners with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Protection and Advocacy (P&A) programs, Legal Services Corporations (LSC) and disability organizations on major, systemic disability rights issues involving the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the federal Medicaid Act. Recently in November 2014, Jim retired.