[HttpPost]
 public ActionResult SomeAction(MyModel model) {
     if(someCondition = true) {
         QueryDatabase();
     }
 }

 private void QueryDatabase() {
     SqlConnection connection = null;
     SqlDataReader dataReader = null;
     List<NotificationDetails> lDeviceCredentials = new List<NotificationDetails>();
     try {
         string connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["myEntity"].ConnectionString;
         EntityConnectionStringBuilder stringBuilder = new EntityConnectionStringBuilder(connectionString);
         string providerConnString = stringBuilder.ProviderConnectionString + ";password=myPassword";
         string someString= null;
         string otherString = null;

         using (connection = new SqlConnection(providerConnString)) {
             connection.Open();
             using (SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand("SELECT myfirstcolumn, mysecondcolumn FROM tblsample WHERE member = 1", connection)) {
                 using (dataReader = command.ExecuteReader()) {
                     if (dataReader != null) {
                         while (dataReader.Read()) {
                             someString= dataReader.GetString(dataReader.GetOrdinal("myfirstcolumn"));
                             otherString = dataReader.GetString(dataReader.GetOrdinal("mysecondcolumn"));
                        }

                        if ((!string.IsNullOrEmpty(someString)) && (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(otherString ))) {
                            // Do Something
                        } else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(someString)) {
                            // Do Something
                        } else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(otherString )) {
                            // Do Something
                        } else {
                            // Don't do anything.
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Debug.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
    }
}