---
title: "Recognizing the historical contributions and value of the Freedom House Ambulance Service."
identifier: "118-HRES-1042"
congress: 118
bill_number: 1042
bill_type: "HRES"
version_code: "ih"
version_type: "Introduced in House"
bill_url: "https://chamberzero.com/congresses/118/bills/hres/1042"
source: "https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/1042"
site: "Chamber Zero"
site_url: "https://chamberzero.com"
rendered_at: "2026-06-04T08:16:42.207Z"
---
Whereas the Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid;Whereas, prior to the mid-1960s, ambulance service in the United States was typically provided by either the police or a local funeral home;Whereas these services offered little more than transportation and people were dying unnecessarily from treatable illnesses and injuries due to a stark lack of prehospital care;Whereas, in 1966, the Freedom House Enterprise was founded to provide economic stimulation to the people of Pittsburgh, and specifically those in the predominantly Black Hill District, where a majority of the residents fell well below the poverty line;Whereas the goal of Freedom House Enterprises was to create job training and employment opportunities for those in the area and to provide an opportunity for those deemed "unemployable" by the city welfare offices to train and work in the city;Whereas, in 1967, Freedom House Enterprises started an ambulance service under the supervision of Dr. Peter Safar, Dr. Dawn Benson, and Dr. Nancy Caroline;Whereas 24 Black men from the Hill District underwent training to become part of the ambulance team;Whereas this team was later expanded to include both Black men and Black women;Whereas Freedom House Ambulance Service broke medical ground by training its personnel to conduct previously unheard of standards of emergency medical care for patients en route to hospitals;Whereas the paramedic training and ambulance design standards pioneered in the Freedom House Ambulance Service would set the standard for prehospital emergency care nationally and even internationally;Whereas Freedom House Paramedic Chief John Moon was the first nonphysician to perform an endotracheal intubation in the field;Whereas the emergency medical services agency would also incorporate many other lifesaving procedures, including treatments for severe asthma attacks, tourniquets for uncontrolled bleeding, and advanced resuscitation techniques for individuals in cardiac arrest;Whereas Freedom House Ambulance Service was ended in 1975 when a newly elected mayor bent to pressure from the wealthier, White neighborhoods when they questioned why they were receiving inadequate prehospital emergency care compared to low-income, predominantly Black neighborhoods who were receiving state-of-the-art prehospital emergency care; andWhereas Freedom House Ambulance Service saved countless lives in Pittsburgh’s most underserved neighborhoods and served as the blueprint for the Nation’s first prehospital care textbook and the first set of national standards for emergency medical services: Now, therefore, be itThat the House of Representatives—
  - (1) commends and recognizes the invaluable work and enduring legacy of the Freedom House Ambulance Service, their dedication to serving their community, and their contributions to prehospital emergency care;
  - (2) acknowledges the vital role played by the Freedom House Ambulance Service in revolutionizing prehospital emergency services and therefore saving countless lives; and
  - (3) expresses sincere gratitude to each member of the Freedom House Ambulance Service for their unwavering commitment to community service and their remarkable contributions to the city of Pittsburgh and prehospital emergency medical care across the country.