We are Enriching Community Health Outreach (ECHO)

What would you do if you didn’t have access to health care?

For many families, this is not a question of "what if” but their day to day reality.

Access to healthcare is one of the main factors that determines the longevity and happiness of a person, giving people the opportunity to prevent and manage disease and ultimately improve a person’s quality of life. Without access to healthcare, people are at greater risk for negative health outcomes resulting from later diagnoses and lack of preventative care. However, all over the world, many individuals continue to lack the adequate health care they need. Several factors are responsible for this disparity in healthcare access including high costs of care, lack of adequate coverage, geographical availability, and cultural barriers.

Even within the U.S., the high cost of insurance prevents many from obtaining medical coverage with uninsured rates among working age Americans climbing from 12.7% to 15.5% in the span of one year. Today, more than 27 million people remain without coverage. This number constitutes mostly of the poor and low-income individuals, who cannot afford the high cost of medical bills.

To address and improve these problems, a group of students founded ECHO to use their voice to educate our communities and bridge the gap in healthcare inequity.