{"id":122867,"date":"2025-06-11T01:58:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T06:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=122867"},"modified":"2025-06-10T11:30:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:30:19","slug":"tornado-surveys-provide-insight-on-recovery-preparedness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/11\/tornado-surveys-provide-insight-on-recovery-preparedness\/","title":{"rendered":"Tornado surveys provide insight on recovery, preparedness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

One year after the 2024 Arbor Day tornado outbreak devastated communities throughout Douglas and Washington Counties, teams from UNMC, the Douglas County Health Department, the Three Rivers Health Department and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services went out in the field to assess ongoing needs and opportunities to better prepare communities for future severe weather events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a rapid-response survey conducted by the same team<\/a> immediately following the tornado outbreak in 2024, more than 50 volunteers were deployed back into affected areas in early May to speak with impacted residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serving as co-leads of the project were Sarah Elizabeth Scales, PhD, assistant professor of Epidemiology at the UNMC College of Public Health, and Kristina Kintziger, PhD, Claire M. Hubbard Professor of Climate and Health at the UNMC College of Public Health.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Scales said a central part of public health action is reporting back to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we are asking people to share their experiences with us, then we need to be sure that we are returning the insights we gain back to them,\u201d Dr. Scales said. \u201cWe \u2013 in partnership with the Douglas County Health Department and the Three Rivers Public Health Department \u2013 felt that the next step in this process was to see what had changed in affected communities a year out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents were asked about ongoing needs resulting from the tornadoes, as well as their current emergency preparedness activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal was to learn about the long-term health and economic impacts of the of the Arbor Day tornado as well as the state of recovery of affected areas,\u201d said Caleb Kuddes, supervisor of emergency response for the Douglas County Health Department and DrPH student at the UNMC College of Public Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn doing so, the Douglas County Health Department intends to address any needs that are still outstanding in the community and use this knowledge to improve future responses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNMC\u2019s leads hope that this project will foster additional practice and academic partnerships in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is exciting to know that we have colleagues and collaborators that we can depend on in the event of disasters or other emergencies in the greater Omaha area,\u201d Dr. Scales said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event organizers expressed their gratitude to all Douglas and Washington County residents who provided much-needed information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said Kuddes, \u201cWe got great feedback from everyone we talked to. Your voice matters and can drive real change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information about this effort and findings from the 2024 surveys are available online at this link.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 50 volunteers deployed back into areas affected by the 2024 tornado outbreak in Douglas and Washington Counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":122866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"22478,118812,20829,104842,67250,38177","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-community","topic-outreach","department-college-of-public-health","department-environmental-agricultural-and-occupational-health","department-epidemiology","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-summer-woolsey-unmc-college-of-public-health"],"yoast_head":"\nTornado 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