DAHLGREN, Va. –
“I just get personal satisfaction out of helping folks. That’s all.” Those are words from Shelley Butler, an IT specialist in the Integrated Engagement Systems Department at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD).
Butler discovered a passion for community service as a high school student in Colonial Beach. “When I was a senior in high school, I took a first aid class at the local rescue squad,” Butler said. “I always wanted to be a doctor growing up. And then I ended up joining the rescue squad after I graduated high school.”
After finding a love for community service, Butler became an emergency medical technician cardiac tech after one year of volunteering with the rescue squad. There were not many paramedics in the area, “so we could do a lot of stuff that a paramedic could do,” Butler said.
Butler spent 13 years with the rescue squad before volunteering for eight years with the Colonial Beach Fire Department. She then went on to serve as an advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) instructor, as well as a basic life support (BLS) instructor for a number of years.
Butler’s community service did not stop on the medical side. She also assisted the Town of Colonial Beach with updating the treasurer’s office technology systems. “I went in and assessed what they needed and we ended up revamping the treasurer's office systems,” Butler said. “That morphed into six years of supporting all the IT requirements for the town.”
Butler also volunteered supporting the local police department’s IT needs during that time. When the police department was relocated to a new building, Butler worked to prepare the new building for their IT needs, helped get everything moved and had things up and running as quickly as possible.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Butler knew she could make a difference using her 20-plus years of medical training. Butler volunteers with the Virginia Medical Reserve Corps as well as the Guadalupe Free Clinic in Colonial Beach. After finding out that both organizations were looking for help during the pandemic, Butler took action. “I ended up supporting COVID test sites up in the Northern Neck,” Butler said. “And once the vaccine came out, we ramped up the vaccination clinics.”
As soon as Butler saw the Guadalupe Free Clinic looking for help, she knew that even without current certifications, she could make a difference. “I told them, ‘I'm not current on any of my certs. But I do have a lot of history in the field,’” Butler recalled. Butler spends a majority of her weekends assisting at the clinic.
“In terms of the medical side of things, I have a lot of history between the fire and rescue, and when I was an ACLS and a BLS instructor,” Butler said. “I've always volunteered. I just feel good when I am helping other people.”
For her community service work, Butler is being awarded the NSWCDD Distinguished Community Service Award during the Honorary Awards Ceremony this Friday night at the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center.