Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nick Dunagan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nick, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of Health4Heroes is to empower Veterans and First Responders to take command of their health, reduce the impact of service, and increase longevity through community, connection, and education.

Our mission is important to me because after years of service in the Army and a 12 month tour to Afghanistan, I was not in the best health. I was dealing with PTSD, TBI, Sleep issues, physical injury, and other limitations. I had lost my purpose and my team. I was in a bad place and spiraling out of control. The Army and the VA weren’t providing me with the help I needed and so I was left to take my health into my own hands.

I found hope and healing through engaging with a like-minded community of Veterans, accessing alternative health services that were “out of network” for the VA, and furthering my education around health & wellness so I could continue to take command of my own health. Years later, I am in a much better place mentally and physically and I attribute that to these 3 key components; finding community, connecting with vital resources, and educating myself to become my biggest health advocate.

Nick, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Like many entrepreneurs, I found myself launching a business due to my own personal experiences. Life had put me in a position to notice that there was so much room for improvement in the way we look at health care, especially when it comes to those who serve our country and communities.

I served in the Army for 5 years from 2009-2014 and spent 1 year (2011) in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom with 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One). During that year my unit experienced countless attacks on our base, mostly indirect fire like mortars and the occasional rocket. For the most part the enemy had terrible aim, but there were times when those attacks caused injury and death to myself and other members of my unit. Aside from 2 of our battle buddies who were KIA, we all came home, but we were never the same. I didn’t know it then, but that 12 month deployment changed my life forever.

After deployment I went on to Airborne school to become a Paratrooper and attended a few other schools before landing at my next duty station with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, NC. During my time at Bragg I began to experience significant mental health and behavioral issues caused by my time and experiences in Afghanistan the year before. I was experiencing all the tell tale symptoms of PTSD and T.B.I and it was dramatically impacting my life, my relationships, and my ability to lead soldiers. Knowing I needed to square myself away, I decided to visit one of the mental health doc’s on base and after a short 20 minute appointment I walked out with 4 or 5 prescriptions for some of the heaviest psychopharmaceuticals you can give a person for depression, anxiety, pain, sleep, etc. I remember walking out of that appointment thinking “this is not the help I was looking for” and decided right there that I was not going to fill those scripts. Unfortunately, I didn’t implement any other strategy to help myself get better and ultimately continued to spiral. This led to a rough transition out of the military and I spent the next couple years in a really bad place.

From late 2015 to present I have been on a journey to reclaim my life and find peace, happiness, and healing. The key factors that have made the biggest impact for me are surrounding myself with a community of like-minded people, accessing a variety of holistic health resources like acupuncture, cranial sacral therapy, yoga, gyms etc, and continual education around health & wellness to support positive behavioral lifestyle changes.

These things have drastically improved my overall health and I have seen them work for many, many others as well. This idea of taking command of your health can be very empowering and for those who are willing to do the work, it can be the difference between continuing to feel trapped and unwell versus feeling hopeful and healthy.

Problems we solve:
Health4Heroes uses a 3 pronged model to address the common issues faced among our servicemember population. We focus on building a supportive community of likeminded individuals so our heroes can encourage and empower one another to place their health at the top of their priority list. We connect our servicemembers to a proprietary network of health & wellness services in their local area which is designed to improve access and increase use. Finally, we educate our community around a variety of topics in an effort to increase general health knowledge and encourage positive behavioral lifestyle changes.

Our approach is much diferent than many of our “competitors” because instead of addressing these health issues as a late-stage intervention such as suicide prevention, we take a positive, upstream prevention approach by providing the tools and resources needed for our servicemembers to take command of their health and lead long, happy, healthy lives. We believe that if someone is fully engaged with our mission then all areas of their life will become healthier, and suicide won’t even be a consideration for them. Or to say it better, the best way to keep something from becoming a problem is to address it before it becomes one.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

In the nonprofit world, our product is impact. Creating a positive experience for those we serve is core to who were are as an organization. Although we have big ambitions to one day serve our heroes on a national scale, we understand that in order to get there we must”focus on the few”.

I hesitate to call this strategy because that seems ingenuine. I think it’s just the right way of doing business. By focusing on our early adopters and ensuring they receive a quality experience we can ensure that we’re meeting our mission while also building trust and credibility among those we serve. Using this approach, we have been able to create some very loyal members that are helping to speed up our growth by reducing the time it takes for us to build rapport with new or prospective members.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

We recently launched our member-led chapters in Windsor, Wellington, and Fort Collins. These chapters are designed to build community and foster strong relationships among members in a given area. Each chapter has a designated Chapter Captain; a member who has stepped up to support the other members in their chapter, which serves as a liaison between our members and HQ. Our Chapter Captains work to establish a genuine connection with the other members of their chapter by employing our “Focus on the Few” approach.

By breaking our members down into local chapters, it allows us to have a better relationship with our members, and have a better pulse on their needs. Additionally, our members can engage in events and activities right in their city which increases our capacity to serve them. We can’t wait to see some friendly chapter vs chapter competition in the near future, that will be fun!

In addition to our Chapter Captains, we utilize surveys and a comprehensive marketing strategy to communicate with our members and receive feedback.

Contact Info:

• Website: Health4Heroes.Org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/health4heroes/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Health4Heroes.HQ
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/health4heroes
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@health4heroes802