Freedom House Ambulance Service was established in 1967 by Freedom House, a Pittsburgh civil rights organization that offered training and assistance to unemployed Black men and women. This service was created for the people of the Hill District who were not receiving the care that was needed, and because of this, we now have the emergency services that we know of today across the U.S.
Join us as John tells the extraordinary story of an unjustly forgotten group of Black men in Pittsburgh who became the first paramedics in America, saving lives and changing the course of emergency medicine around the world.
About the Speaker
John Moon is a former Freedom House emergency medical technician and retired Assistant Chief of Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Service. John was raised in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and joined Freedom House, America’s First Emergency Medical Service, in 1972. He continued to work in emergency medicine for more than five decades and now works to preserve Freedom House legacy and mentor the next generation of emergency and community responders in Pittsburgh.