AIDPH

Project ECHO is an ALL-TEACH-ALL-LEARN TELEMENTORING MODEL focused on building the capacity of health providers. Seeing clear alignment with our mission and vision, AIDPH was credentialed in the ECHO model in 2020 to establish a rural oral health ECHO hub. Throughout 2021, AIDPH approached stakeholders in rural communities to design programming that meets their needs.

Our Rural Oral Health ECHO follows THE THREE DOMAINS FRAMEWORK using the lens of rurality and health equity. Each virtual session includes four key elements:

Expert didactic presentation
Participant Q&A
Participant case presentations
Expert feedback for problem solving and capacity building
Participants take this knowledge back to their communities to implement in their daily work, building the capacity of our oral health professional workforce.

Formal leadership training, through a structured programmatic setting, is both desired and needed within the dental public health workforce. Little programming currently exists to meet this need, uniquely positioning the AIDPH Dental Public Health Leadership Academy to support the oral health community. The ability to assess and address community oral health is just as important as addressing individual oral health: the two are mutually defining and inseparable. Yet, formal leadership development programs and succession planning are largely absent for dental public health professionals. We must encourage and equip a new generation of clinicians with the training and support they need. To not accept the status quo. To innovate. To inspire. To lead.