03/01/2021
Black History Fact:
In 1967, an organization known as Freedom House Enterprise made the first strides in the modern work of paramedics as we know it today. Located in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA, the Freedom House was originally organized as a non-profit dedicated to job placement, voter registration and NAACP access for their community.
Many members of the black community, as well as local charity leader Phillip Hallen, took note of the response times of ambulances to their impoverished black community— if they elected to respond at all. Seeing the effect this had on the people in their area, they organized the first dispatch team that would actively work to treat patients en route to the hospital.
Hallen, with the help of Freedom House’s Jim McCoy as well as Edward Norian (an administrator at what is now UPMC) and Peter Safar (often regarded as the father of CPR), worked to assemble a dispatch team that would implement life saving techniques, such as CPR, while transporting the ill to the hospitals.
For several years, Freedom House trained young men, who otherwise may have been left without work, to gain a skill set that would help those around them. As the team worked to perfect their craft, they were trained and respected by medical professionals. One of note being Nancy Caroline, who began to oversee the Freedom House in 1973 before going on to write the first paramedic training manual.
As success for Freedom House grew, so did notice by other neighborhoods in the city. It wasn’t long before the more affluent areas began petitioning the city for pre-hospital emergency care of their own. In 1975, the city of Pittsburgh overtook the EMS system and redesigned it. In doing so, they deemed many of the original paramedics to be under qualified, requiring them to met newly designed standards in order to continue their work. Freedom House was denied funding and disbanded.
Thankfully, the story does not stop there. Five of the twenty six original paramedics went on to continue their careers as EMS personnel. Member John Moon did go on to be named assistant chief, though never being offered the position of chief itself.
This wonderful, unsung story of the design of our modern EMS programs even has a link to right here in Ohio, with member Mitchell J. Brown. Following his dedicated service at Freedom House, Mr. Brown took residence in Cleveland, Ohio where he took on the position of Commissioner for Emergency Medical Services in Cleveland’s department of public safety. He then went on to live in Columbus, Ohio while working as Director of State of Ohio Department of Public Safety. In 2000, Mr. Brown was appointed director of Columbus’ Department of Public Saftey. Mitchell Brown is a United States Air Force Veteran and also a council member for the city of Columbus. Hats off to you, sir, and all the dedicated men and women of Freedom House Enterprise, of Pittsburgh, PA.
