Disaster Responder Research - LMMRS

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center is working with the Lincoln Metropolitan Medical Response System (LMMRS) to survey people who responded to the tornadoes and thunderstorms which devastated southeast Nebraska in May 2004.

Two research projects are being carried out under this partnership:

1. A survey of clean-up volunteers who helped out after the tornadoes will help us to identify what worked well and what improvements can be made in Lancaster County's recruitment and deployment of volunteers after a disaster. The aim is to find out how to make the volunteer experience as rewarding as possible, and how best to encourage volunteerism in the event of future disasters.
2. Surveys and in-depth interviews with emergency responders who were deployed the night of the tornados and thunderstorms will be conducted. Emergency responders experience varying degrees of stress on a daily basis as part of the nature of their job. The goal of this research is to find out what types of support services are wanted and would actually be utilized by emergency responders to help them minimize the effects of this stress.