A class researching emergency preparedness across New York state found its work taking on new urgency once the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Community Based Research, taught by April Backus, M.S.Ed., associate director of the Siena College Research Institute, had as its goal to assess how well New Yorkers were ready to face a range of disasters – from a home fire, flood, terrorist attack – and yes, a pandemic. Turns out, fewer than 20 percent of New Yorkers said they were personally very prepared for any scenario, although most said they are informed about how to prepare and where to seek services after one hits.
The class began this past January with the students talking through various disaster scenarios; ironically they talked about whether to include a (non-coronavirus) disease pandemic as one of those possibilities.
“We had to decide how we would incorporate that into our research while still asking NYS residents to think about other potential disasters, including home and residence fires and fire safety,” said Backus.
As part of their course, the 16 students learned how to conduct community based research, how to build partner relationships and assess needs; and how to develop and carry out a community research project.
The class interviewed 34 community leaders in law enforcement, first response, public officials and others, and their findings were used to create the survey questions.
While a natural disaster such as a tornado, blizzard or flooding was thought most likely to occur, survey response showed that disasters that concerned New Yorkers the most were a non-coronavirus pandemic, cyberterror or terrorism.
“The students did a fantastic job altering our survey questions and thinking outside the box as we navigated a necessary change in our survey design,” said Backus.
The results of their research were presented to local Red Cross officials at the end of the semester, and will be used to inform the upcoming informational campaign “Sound the Alarm,” about home fire prevention and safety.
The survey delved more specifically into fire safety topics, finding that more than 90 percent of homes have at least one smoke detector, about 60 percent have a fire escape plan, and half of those have practiced it in the past 12 month. Most said they are very familiar with basic fire safety measures.
German Jimenez ’20 praised the hands-on aspects of the course.
“This class made the research real, from the interviews we conducted to the presentation for the Red Cross. Making research matter for the students who conduct it makes college that much more worthwhile because you truly see the impact it has on the community. Also, it served as a realistic experience because working on group project remotely proved to be quite a challenge but in the end it all worked out. It was extremely satisfying to figure out we would be doing research that mattered.”
In the past, SCRI's COMD210 classes have worked with the United Way, the Food Pantries for the Capital District, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Capital Area, and Unity House.