The Sandy Child and Family Health Study researches long-term effects of the superstorm on the health and well-being of NJ residents !

Right now research teams from Rutgers University and Columbia University are visiting your community and coming door-to-door to conduct The Sandy Child and Family Health (S-CAFH) Study, one of the largest disaster recovery projects and assessments in the region. Residents are encouraged to share their stories to help with this important assessment.

Towns that researchers are visiting are: Absecon, Atlantic City, Bayville, Beachwood, Belmar, Brigantine, Carteret, Highlands, Hoboken, Jersey City, Little Ferry, Long Branch, Lyndhurst, Manahawkin, Margate City, New Brunswick, Newark, Ocean City, Ocean Gate, Oceanport, Plainfield, Point Pleasant, Ridgefield, Scotch Plains, Sea Bright, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park, Tuckerton, Union Beach, Villas, Woodbine, Woodbridge.

The damage caused during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 was immediate, but the aftershocks for New Jersey residents continue in the form of enduring health, economic, environmental and social impacts. To better understand these effects, the New Jersey Department of Health is supporting a joint research team from Rutgers and Columbia to conduct the study. The research examines the potential long-term effects of Sandy on the health and well-being of state residents exposed to the storm and sheds light on what has helped or hindered people in their ongoing recovery.

Going door-to-door in the affected areas, community-based interviewers are conducting face-to-face surveys with a random sampling of 1,000 New Jersey households situated in communities that experienced storm surges, flooding or substantial property damage. The bilingual survey covers such topics as the decisions households made related to evacuation and recovery issues, to their health and well-being, and to the help they have sought or received. In addition to learning about the adults in the household, the team will also ask specific questions about children living in the house to learn of any long-term impacts.

“This is an important project for ongoing work to give voice to the people of New Jersey to talk about some of the longer-term impacts on families and communities,” said Rutgers University’s Patricia Findley, associate professor.

To be eligible, selected residents must have lived in the household at the time of the storm, and the household must be either their primary residence or a secondary residence that they had occupied for at least 30 days between June 1 and October 31, 2012.

The primary objectives of the S-CAFH data collection will be to:
• document the immediate and on-going physical and mental health needs of populations, including children
• chronicle their recovery and housing transitions
• analyze the types of services that people needed and received, and to identify patterns of current unmet needs or service gaps
• document the pathways to recovery experienced by diverse populations.

Research teams from Rutgers University’s Institute for Families at the School of Social Work and Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute are leading the Sandy Child and Family Health study. The research faculty from Rutgers and Columbia has been involved in disaster assessment work after many major events, including 9/11; Hurricane Katrina; the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill; the Christchurch, New Zealand earthquakes; the Joplin, Missouri tornado; and Superstorm Sandy.

”What we have seen too often after these catastrophic events,” said Columbia University’s David Abramson, “is that long-term recovery doesn’t make the news. S-CAFH will provide that picture to New Jersey communities and officials. It can help build an evidence-base for disaster recovery that is effective and targeted.”

To learn more, contact the study directors: David Abramson, deputy director of Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness, at dma3@columbia.edu, or Donna Van Alst, director of the Office of Research and Evaluation at the Institute for Families in Rutgers’ School of Social Work, at vanalst@ssw.rutgers.edu.

Funding for this study is provided through federal Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) funds.