National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network ECHO

We collaborated with New Hampshire’s two other Project ECHO Hubs (Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the NH Citizens Health Initiative at the University of New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice) and served as an official Training Center, along with 98 other training centers across the county, to deliver the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network ECHO. This initiative involved more than 9,000 nursing homes from all 50 states, nearly two-thirds of the nation’s nursing homes, and was developed to help keep COVID-19 from spreading in area nursing homes and to prepare and equip staff so that they can better protect residents and themselves.

The National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network ECHO aimed to:

• Keep SARS-COV-2 from entering nursing homes where it has not entered
• Identify residents and staff who have been infected with SARS-COV-2 early
• Prevent the spread of SARS-COV-2 between staff, residents, and visitors
• Provide safe and appropriate care to residents with mild and asymptomatic cases of SARS-COV-2
• Ensure staff have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to implement best-practice safety measures to protect residents and themselves
• Reduce social isolation for residents, families, and staff during these difficult times

Our Training Center involved a closed cohort of nursing home facility staff from New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. Staff engaged in a 16-session program from November 2020 to March 2021 followed by a 15-session program from May 2021 to August 2021. 

Learn more about Project ECHO work.