The city government will launch Project Extension for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) on Dec. 21 at City Hall spearheaded by the City Health Services Office (CHSO).
CHSO Deputy Head, Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes said the city will affirm its commitment in deli-vering quality, affordable, and accessible medical; health; and wellness care to its community members by collaborating with Roche Philippines, Inc. and the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology.
Project ECHO is a learning model founded by Dr. Sanjeev Arora at the University of New Mexico where participants engage in a virtual community with their peers and share support, guidance, and feedback.
“As a result, our collective understanding of how to disseminate and implement best practices across diverse disciplines continuously improves and expands,” Brillantes said.
She said Project ECHO was piloted in Guagua, Pampanga and Samal, Bataan in 2021 and 2022, res-pectively.
It became instrumental in providing assistance to breast cancer patients du-ring the pandemic by tapping the power of virtual technology to improve survival and quality of life through capacity building, strengthening of screening efforts with early diagnosis, improving patient navigation, and referral system.
“We would like to pioneer a virtual telementoring model for breast cancer screening from early diagnosis up to treatment in the Summer Capital. We aim to contribute to the reduction of breast cancer mortality and potentially benefit 21,250 women in 16 barangays,” Brillantes said. – Gaby B. Keith
