Helping state’s elderly deal with extreme weather the focus of latest free Project ECHO seminars hosted by OHIO’s Voinovich School

How Ohio’s rapidly aging population can better cope with heat waves, flooding and increasingly severe storms is the subject of a new six-part Project ECHO webinar series starting in September and running through March.

The free practical research and practitioner presentations in the Building Resilience for Older Adults in a Changing Environment series come with the opportunity to earn continuing education credits across a variety of disciplines.

The webinar series, presented by the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University, is intended for researchers and practitioners in health, gerontology, social work, social services, community development, emergency preparedness, planning, climate resilience, sustainability, hazard mitigation and disaster risk management. The first session is scheduled for Sept. 23. All the sessions run noon-1 p.m. 

• You can register here for the webinar series.

Ohio is the home of the sixth-largest older adult population in the nation, and by 2030 this group of 60-plus citizens concentrated heavily in rural and Appalachian counties is projected to include 26% of its population, according to state data.

OHIO Professor Dr. Geoff Dabelko said the fact that those more vulnerable Ohioans face increasingly extreme weather events provides the connection behind the series, which builds on years of insights gained from the Grey Green Alliance partnership between the Voinovich School and the Age-Friendly Innovation Center at Ohio State University.

"Rapid changes in the frequency, intensity, and location of extreme weather events present new threats, in particular to older adults,” Dabelko said. “Yet practitioners across health, environment, planning and emergency preparedness often work in isolation or with limited understanding of how these trends are impacting their portfolios. This Building Resilience ECHO provides practical ways forward to align synergistic collaboration across sectors."

Jen Morel, managing director of the Partnership for Community Based Prevention, agreed.

"Some of our most complex challenges can't be solved by a single discipline,” she said. “Through the Project ECHO model, diverse perspectives come together in a collaborative learning environment, helping participants develop practical, innovative ideas they can apply in their own communities."

Voinovich School Partnership Strategist Sara Condrac, who leads the Project ECHO Hub, said the format “is designed to make learning interactive. Participants don't just gain knowledge – they exchange ideas, learn from one another, and leave with strategies they can put into practice in their organizations and communities."

The latest Project Echo Series follows the popular Workplace Behavioral Wellness webinars offered earlier this year.