Founding members of Freedom House in Pittsburgh share story of becoming first EMS service in U.S.

PITTSBURGH — As Black History Month comes to a close, we’re taking you back to the 1960s to celebrate a group of men and women who became heroes.

Thursday, Congresswoman Summer Lee introduced a resolution honoring this group of Pittsburghers who broke medical ground to become the first emergency medical service in the country.

As an ambulance races to get to the hospital in time the paramedics inside may or may not know the history of the training that’s become their bible.

The patient likely has no idea they have a better chance of surviving because of trailblazers from Pittsburgh.

It started in the Hill District in 1967 as the first mobile intensive care unit in the country.

“Forty-seven individuals, all Black, became the first responders in the world,” said George McCary III, one of the original responders for Freedom House Ambulance Service.

“I was 19, and my grandmother told me I had to go. She said, ‘You don’t want to go to school. You don’t want to get a job. So, you gotta go.”

In 1968, McCary had just graduated high school and would soon find himself back in a classroom, training to become a Freedom House EMT.

He hit the streets after completing classes, field training and even time in the morgue.

“It got to a point where every time there was overtime, I wanted it. Every time someone didn’t show up, I wanted to come in,” said McCary.

McCary worked his way up to assistant chief.

“Not because I was better than anybody. I always tell the story. Not because I was better than a lot of folks. It’s because I was always there!”

The group was providing a life-saving service to the mostly Black population who lived in the Hill District and in Oakland.

Before Freedom House, there was no established medical transport service.

“They (residents) would have to call the police. There was a seven-digit number that you would have to call to get a police dispatcher who would in turn send a police dispatcher to your location, if they decided to come or when they decided to get there,” said John Moon.

Moon joined Freedom House at age 22, in the fall of 1973.

He became a paramedic in 1974, a year before the city of Pittsburgh ended its contract with Freedom House.

The men and women were promised jobs, but it was a rocky transition.

“The agreement said I had to take you, but it didn’t say I had to keep you. So that was a systematic way, which was very successful, to eliminate as many of Freedom House’s employees as possible.”

Moon eventually retired as an assistant chief of Pittsburgh EMS.

“One of the things that concerns me is there are paramedics unfortunately today that work for Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services, where I spent 34 years, that have never heard of Freedom House,” said Moon.

Moon says the way paramedics operate today, from the design of ambulances to the equipment inside them, is Freedom House-initiated.

The staff was trained by University of Pittsburgh anesthesiologist Dr. Peter Safar, who’s known as the “Father of CPR.”

“We were living in the moment, trying to help a community that was essentially neglected and underserved,” said Moon.

In their day, they were unlikely heroes.

“It’s been dormant or swept under the rug, if you will, for the last 50-plus years. And I want to change that.”

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2024 Cox Media Group