On Tuesday, May 9 we welcome Dona Drew, LCSW, CSAC, ICS. Dona is the Community Engagement and Partnership Coordinator at the Zablocki VA Medical Center.
Dona Drew is a Wisconsin Native. After high school, she enlisted in the US Marine Corps for 4 years. She worked as a Field Communication Operator while stationed with the 3rd FSSG at Camp Kinser in Okinawa, Japan. She was then attached to Marine Corps Headquarters at Henderson Hall in Washington DC where she worked at the Pentagon and Navy Annex. She was among the first Women Marines to be allowed to work in this MOS (Military Occupational Specialty).
After Dona was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, she received her Bachelor Degree in Social Work from George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. After graduation, she returned to WI and started working for ProHealth Care while she obtained her Master degree in Social Work at UW Milwaukee in 2010.
In 2013, she began her VA career as the lead social worker in the Women’s Program at the Domiciliary (6 week residential program). In February 2018, she was hired to create a new position of social worker/case manager in the outpatient Substance Use Clinic. In October 2020 Dona joined the Suicide Prevention Team. Currently, Dona is Community Engagement and Partnership Coordinator at the Milwaukee Zablocki Medical Center. She is the co-chair of the Southeastern Wisconsin Veteran Suicide Prevention Task Force and works closely with other partnerships in the Veteran community to end Veteran Suicide. She is passionate about Suicide Prevention and believes that we all have play an important role in ending suicides in our community.