Page 52 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2026

The People Who Answer
Unsung Heroes of South Mississippi
story by Cherie Ward photos courtesy of Gulf Coast Search and Rescue, Denee Wilkerson, Chasity McLendon, Bailey Heuser and Lauren Irey
The shift started like any other. School zones. Traffic stops— complaints about noise, parking, and suspicious activity. Then the 911 call came in about a 3-day-old baby who had stopped breathing.
Ocean Springs Police Department Lead Dispatcher Chasity McLendon immediately began coordinating the response—police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel racing toward the scene. At the same time, she worked the call from behind a headset.
“The baby had turned blue,” McLendon said. Patrol officers arrived first and immediately began CPR before rushing the infant to the hospital in a patrol vehicle while other officers blocked intersections along the way.
Days later, McLendon learned the baby survived. “That was pretty neat,” she said quietly.
McLendon has worked in dispatching for nearly 16 years and said the work becomes impossible to walk away from once it gets into your system. “It literally gets in your blood,” she said.
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She describes dispatchers as the unseen link holding emergencies together in real time—coordinating officers, firefighters, and medical responders while gathering critical information from frightened callers.
“Fridays and Saturday nights can be completely hectic,” she said with a laugh. “You never really know what kind of day it’s going to be.”
For flight nurse Lauren Irey, unpredictability is simply part of the job. As part of Mississippi Air Rescue 5 in Gulfport, Irey responds to emergencies across South Mississippi, often landing helicopters in places most people would never expect.
“Could be on the highway, in somebody’s backyard—anywhere really,” she said. “If we can land the helicopter there, we’re going in.”
Sometimes crews cannot land directly at the scene and must improvise. “We’ve had to throw all of our stuff in the back of a truck and go into the woods to help somebody,” she said.
But some calls stay with responders long after the shift ends. www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
Gulf Coast Search and Rescue