In the 1960s, sick or injured people would get taken to the hospital in the backseat of a cop car or hearse — if they were picked up at all. It wasn’t until a trailblazing group of Black men from the Hill District started saving lives in their own community that the country began to develop a system for emergency medicine. Known as the Freedom House Ambulance Service, this team of Pittsburghers became the nation’s very first paramedics. Kevin Hazzard, author of “American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America’s First Paramedics,” joins us to talk about the group’s lasting legacy in our city and beyond.
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