The EMTs Who Paved the Way: The Enduring Legacy of the Freedom House Ambulance Service

Since it was just Nurses Week (May 6th to May 12th) and my mother has been a nurse ever since I was born, I want to take the time to highlight some of our wonderful medical staff and the very first EMTs.

Before 1967 when the Pittsburgh civil rights organization Freedom House was founded, if you needed on-the-spot emergency care, you would have to call the police and hope to God that you could actually make it to the hospital. They would just throw you in the back of their car, but the Freedom House Ambulance Service created so many new opportunities and a brand-new field. As highlighted in the newest medical drama, The Pitt, paramedics worked closely with Dr. Peter Safar, also known as the father of CPR.

With a team of paramedics from within the community—people such as Vietnam War veterans, those with criminal records, and those who had suffered from long-term unemployment—they put in the work with over 300 hours of anatomy, physiology, CPR, advanced first aid, and nursing, not to mention defensive driving.

In only their first year of active service, they responded to 5,800 calls and transported more than 46,000 patients overall, saving 200 lives.

Not only were they driving forces in the medical world, but they also paved the way. In 1975, the Freedom House paramedics went through amazing training such as IV drug administration, cardiac care, and intubation, which had never been done in the field before. These guys did the job.

Although they have an everlasting legacy in the medical field, they were forced to cease operations in 1975 when the mayor instituted a city-wide ambulance service, and unfortunately a lot of them were excluded from other work. The all-Black paramedic team at Freedom House raised the standard of care for years to come by refusing to back down and accepting innovation.