TAMPA — Two members of the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office received statewide recognition this week.

At the Florida Sheriffs Association Winter Conference, Public Safety Telecommunicators Brittany Wheeler and Taylor McCathern of the SCSO were named the 2020 Dispatchers of the Year.

The award is presented annually at the conference to an officer who has demonstrated exceptional service in the line of duty. The award is sponsored by L3Harris Technologies.

Wheeler and McCathern were honored after they demonstrated the true grit of a dispatcher in the 21st century. They have shown they are quick-witted, resourceful and diligent. It was those qualities and their heroic instincts that led to the saving of a Suwannee County man’s life. Suwannee County Sheriff Sam St. John recognized their efforts in September 2019.

Wheeler and McCathern took a worried call from the son of a missing man in August 2019. He said his father left a good-bye letter on the bed and left. According to his panicked mother, her husband had been experiencing suicidal thoughts.

They were able to determine a location the man might have gone, but his wife could not recall the address of the vacant piece of land. The dispatchers acted quickly searched the Suwannee County’s Property Appraiser’s website, but their search returned zero results. Wheeler and McCathern turned to another form of technology, using the MapFlex software, and followed the woman’s directions turn by turn.

The dispatchers narrowed their searched once in the vicinity and sent Deputy Rashard Fleming to the scene. He found the missing man attempting to take his own life with a noose tied to tree limb. Deputy Fleming was able to prevent the Suwannee County husband and father from taking his own life. The man was placed under a Baker Act and transported to a mental health facility to receive help.

“This event could have had a very different outcome if it had not been for Taylor and Brittany’s professional training and their willingness to go the extra mile to help figure out where this man was,” St. John said in a release. “These employees helped save the life of a resident who was in the midst of a mental health crisis.

“If they hadn’t gone above and beyond, this man wouldn’t be here today. I really want to honor them because of the great job they are both doing for this community.”