What was the Freedom House Ambulance Service?
Founded in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 1967, this service was created as a form of resistance to the racial disparities and tensions that created systematic barriers for members of predominantly Black communities throughout the city. Leading up to the mid 60s, if you needed medical assistance then you were expected to call the local police and hope that they would arrive and transport you to the nearest hospital in the back of their paddy wagon. However, many residents of the Hill District were reluctant to call on the oppressive, mainly white police force that maintained the city’s limits. There was a clear issue regarding who felt safe and worthy of healthcare, so the groundwork was laid for one of the most telling stories of resistance in Black history.
Who was responsible for this initiative?
The program was a collective effort by many professionals of all different backgrounds throughout the city of Pittsburgh. Phil Hallen, who was previously an ambulance driver and now the head of the Maurice Falk Fund, believed there was a need for improvement in emergency medical care in Pittsburgh and opened the gates for funding to this new task force. Morton Coleman, a former professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work, encouraged Hallen to take this opportunity to train underemployed Black men and women of Pittsburgh as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s) and paramedics to provide a more efficient emergency response system. Dr. Peter Safar, accredited as the “Father of CPR”, caught wind of the initiative and informed Hallen that he was interested in working alongside them in providing the groundwork for their standard of care. The team established their first bases at Presbyterian and Mercy Hospitals, and they started officially operating in 1968.
What legacy was left behind in the field?
The service was first called into action by the City of Pittsburgh to tend to downtown and the predominantly Black neighborhoods during the King Assasination Riots in 1968. They rode along with the police assisting in emergency care and transportation, where they quickly came to be known as some of the best caregivers in the city. Many residents completely avoided contacting the police when in need of help, and looked to the Freedom House to provide care with dignity and in a timely manner.
Safar recruited Dr. Nancy Caroline in 1974 to act as the medical director for the team. Caroline was responsible for training the paramedics in Freedom House to do Advanced Life Services (ALS), such as intubation, cardiac care, and I.V. drug administration, on the frontlines of emergencies. The skills and data that Caroline brought to the team would soon become the foundations of the paramedic curriculum and pave the way for current medical practices.
One of the most impactful points of the Freedom House Ambulance Service was how they showed up for their community in their most vulnerable moments, and the empathy they channeled. Those that received care from the team were always addressed by their names, and asked for permission before conducting any interventions. The members of the community echoed that they “truly cared” when showing up to help.
With a spike in heroin usage around the city, the paramedics contacted the drug dealers and users within the community to ensure they knew the signs of an overdose. They emphasized that if somebody were to overdose or need transportation to a hospital, then there would be absolutely no legal repercussions for those involved. Following this effort, there was a significant decrease in deadly overdoses throughout the city.
Amidst the success of the service, the members of the Freedom House were faced with racism and discrimination from the hospital staff and patients, as well as the city government.
What happened to the service?
Racism. Regardless of how many lives were saved or meaningfully impacted, the team was met with constant opposition by white residents of the city. Peter Flaherty became the mayor of Pittsburgh in 1970, andbelieved that any service requiring funding from the city should be directly overseen by its government. Many involved at the time, such as Safar and Hallen, believed that this was an effort by Flaherty to strengthen the police force and “maintain control of ambulances city-wide.”
Flaherty denied Freedom House’s request to expand their contract to cover additional regions of the city, and there was no clear understanding as to why with all of the success rates of their previous operations. This denied request took away their opportunity to provide service in wealthier neighborhoods, where they would have been compensated at a faster rate to pay for their ambulance and equipment fees. As Flaherty served as mayor he started to provide the funds for the ambulance contract late, and he eventually cut the budget for its operation by 50%. He also signed an ordinance to bar the use of ambulance sirens in the downtown region, and attributed this change to “noise complaints.” This in turn slowed down the response time when the paramedics were arriving on scene and transporting patients to the hospital, andallowed the police to respond to more calls before them.
The Freedom House Ambulance Service officially closed on October 15th, 1975 due to the contract with the city inevitably being cut. Flaherty created and staffed an entirely new city ambulance service with all white paramedics. Dr. Nancy Caroline was hired as the medical director of the new service, yet she only accepted the position under the conditions that the Freedom House paramedics and dispatchers would also be hired and kept with their respective crews.
Although the Freedom House medics were hired, they were quickly split away from their crews. Anybody who had a previous criminal record was fired immediately. They were forced to take pass/fail exams on materials they were not taught, and would in turn be relieved from their job. Most of the remaining medics were reassigned to partake in non-medical or non-essential work, and many of these positions were directly overseen by white employees with less experience. Out of the 26 Freedom House employees who joined the city’s new service, only five remained with the new team. Only one of those members was promoted to a leadership position. By the late 1990’s, 98% of the City of Pittsburgh’s Emergency Medical Services were white.
Why should we remember the Freedom House?
This initiative not only changed the course of history for medical care, but it was a clear and successful form of resistance for the tense time that it was in operation. This was an act of bravery that in turn saved hundreds of lives, and impacted millions more beyond that. In a time where people did not feel safe or supported within their communities, these paramedics were the real life superheroes for those that were in need of help.
As someone who worked on the frontlines as an EMT myself, I find this story to be one of the most important for the city and the providers in these fields to remember. Showing up for people in their most vulnerable states is a unique task in and of itself, and to do so with grace is one of the most memorable traits to leave behind. It is not easy to put yourself in situations that may be dangerous or life threatening, so to do so in an effort to protect your community amidst tumultuous times is a powerful act of resistance through love.
Sources
Edwards, Matthew L. “Race, Policing, and History — Remembering the
Freedom House Ambulance Service.” The New England Journal of Medicine [United States], vol. 384, no. 15, April 2021, pp. 1386–89, https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2035467.
