Cartwright works on ambulance

Max Cartwright is a young man who has his eye set on what he wants to do in the future. Although he is only 26, he has already mapped out the road ahead. Right now he is working with D.W. McMillan Ambulance Service which is under the umbrella of the Escambia County Health Department.

“I guess I was meant to be doing this,” he said. “My dad worked with the Conecuh County service and I did some part-time ambulance work there.”

The D.W. McMillan Ambulance Service now has 15 full-time workers and three part-time. Four people make up a shift and there are two on each truck, an EMT and a paramedic. The EMTs can do basic life-saving procedures, while a paramedic has to have two years of special training to give advanced life support care to the patients and are allowed to administer some medicines. They work 48 hours on duty followed by 96 hours off duty. Their offices are located between the Brewton Medical Center and D.W. McMillan Hospital. They have several trucks available, including one that is brand new. This newest truck is decked out with some of the most sophisticated technology in the field.

“I love what I am doing,” he said. “I think you have to love what you do in your job to be happy. For me the hours are great. I live in Mobile but by working two days on and four days off, I am able to work here and then work in Conecuh County, too.”

Cartwright graduated from Thomasville High School and then to Troy State University to major in criminal justice and homeland security.

“I lived in Montgomery and got involved as a volunteer with the fire department,” he said. “They needed an EMT and paid for me to go to EMT school.”

He was able to work with his father in Conecuh County for a while, but when his father went to another job, Cartwright was able to stay there for the next six years. He still works part-time in Conecuh County.

“There is a lot of good history here in the ambulance business and it is one of the oldest services around,” he said. “Most of our equipment is almost new and we have lots of brand new equipment. The working conditions and benefits are good here, and I like it.”

Cartwright makes the trip from Mobile to perform his duties, but he has good reason to go home. He has a girl friend there, Brooke Maae, who is working on her master’s degree at the University of South Alabama and also is teaching there.