CHARLESTON, W.Va. –
One of the greatest strengths the National Guard has, both in West Virginia and around the nation, is the vast variety of skill sets Soldiers and Airmen who serve in uniform bring to the table from their civilian careers. Often times, these skill sets are entirely unrelated to their military roles. The security forces personnel guarding the flight line may be a world history teacher, the infantryman on the rifle range may be a gourmet chef at a local 5-star restaurant, and the personnel clerk in human resources may be a skilled metalsmith when not in uniform.
This wide diversity of subject matter expertise often leads to unique and innovative ideas and solutions to problems that the Guard may face in any given scenario, and allows the Guard to maximize capabilities across a wide spectrum of missions.
One such Soldier whose civilian training and subject matter expertise is allowing him to play a critical role in the ongoing West Virginia National Guard (WVNG) COVID-19 pandemic response, is Warrant Officer 1 Dana J. Dandeneau.
A rotary wing aviator with the 772nd Troop Command Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) when in uniform, Dandeneau, who lives in North Carolina, is an Applied Epidemiology Fellow at the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) in his civilian career.
Epidemiologists are public health practitioners who study and analyze the distribution, patterns, and causes of health and disease conditions in defined populations. They help shape public health policy and decisions based on evidence-based practices, relying on a variety of relevant public health areas, including biology, biostatistics, social sciences, and assessing risk of exposure to a threat.
“People often refer to epidemiologists as ‘disease detectives’, because our primary function is to identify the who, what, where, when, why and how a disease outbreak starts and then spreads,” stated Dandeneau. “Once information is gathered and analyzed, we then use it to develop or improve preventative and clinical healthcare methodologies with the ultimate goal to help curtail or even further prevent spread or reoccurrence of any given disease.”
Dandeneau specializes in injury epidemiology, one of the fastest growing areas of the genre, which deals with overdose, suicide, traumatic brain injuries, etc. in the public health sphere.
“I chose to work in injury epidemiology because I wanted to work specifically on veteran suicide prevention,” he stated.
While Dandeneau works and lives in North Carolina, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to appear on the public radar, he immediately saw an opportunity to utilize his civilian expertise to contribute to WVNG response efforts in West Virginia. He immediately reached out to WVNG leadership and offered his services, which were quickly engaged.
Dandeneau is currently embedded in the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR) Division of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (DIDE). His mission is to provide operational support to the state including processing COVID-19 electronic and paper lab records in the West Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WVEDSS), maintaining a database of and conducting analyses on West Virginia resident deaths due to COVID-19, and assisting the outbreak response team’s efforts concerning outbreaks in congregate settings, mainly long-term care facilities.
His training and proficiency in epidemiology data management and analysis allowed him to hit the ground running as soon as he arrived, providing critical manpower boosting to WVDHHR.
Having attended West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, for his degree, graduating with a Master of Public Health in epidemiology, and being a member of the WVNG, Dandeneau is extremely proud and grateful to be able to bring his unique civilian skillset back “home”.
“It means the world to me,” he stated. “I was born and raised in New York, but the moment I set foot on West Virginia soil for the first time I knew that I would be happy here, both at school at WVU and serving in the WVNG. To volunteer to come to West Virginia and help in the COVID-19 response effort utilizing my professional civilian training was a decision that I did not have to think twice about. To be able to give back to the state as a whole is truly one of the most rewarding feelings I have ever experienced.”
When asked about the importance of the WVNG in his life, Dandeneau was quick to respond.
“The WVNG has lifted me up in so many ways. It provided me educational benefits, without which I would never have been able to afford school. It has allowed me to visit parts of the world I never dreamed would be possible. And it continues to provide me opportunities to challenge and better myself. We hear it all the time, but at the end of the day it really is true…the WVNG is just one big giant family. And I am proud to be here helping my WVNG family and my West Virginia family as well.”