the First EMs Service
“In 1967, Pittsburgh’s inner city produced America’s first EMT service. Comprised solely of Black men and women recruited from the city’s Hill District neighborhood, the paramedics of Freedom House Ambulance became trailblazers in providing pre-hospital and CPR care. Freedom House was initially conceived to respond to the needs of Pittsburgh’s African American community who often times, couldn’t rely on police and fire departments during an emergency. Their ground breaking work became the basis for all paramedics training in the country. However, despite its success - racism and power dynamics in Pittsburgh shut down Freedom House in 1975, leaving its legacy almost lost to history. For more information visit https://www.wqed.org/freedomhouse.”
“By 1972, Freedom House employed 35 crew members, received 7,000 calls a year, and its leaders had established the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians to formalize the field. The crew pioneered several medical developments and technologies, including the introduction of medical physicians to ambulance work, allowing medics to transmit EKGs, using air casts to stabilize injured bones and joints, and even administering Narcan to overdose patients.”
How a team of Black paramedics set the gold standard for emergency medical response
“Unfortunately, the ambulance service was viewed with concern by City Hall. White neighborhoods grew indignant that Hill District residents were receiving better care than them. Rather than allow Freedom House to expand service to other neighborhoods, in 1975 the City of Pittsburgh cut Freedom House’s funding and subsumed its personnel and operations into a newly established citywide EMS service.
In a follow-up interview, Mr. Moon described what happened next. “Despite a written agreement that our previous training would be accepted, it was not. As a result of constant belittling and additional needless class sessions, a great number of Freedom House personnel were systematically eliminated from employment with Pittsburgh E.M.S. When you eliminate the history makers, you essentially eliminate that part of history.””
