87 | Kevin Hazzard | American Sirens | The great story of Freedom House and EMS origins

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Kevin Hazzard
Author of A Thousand Naked Strangers and American Sirens (you can find these on Amazon or wherever books are sold). You can find Kevin Hazzard at KevinHazzard.com
Kevin talks about the story Jesus told of the good Samaritan as really the first example of EMS. Jesus tells this story in response to a lawyer asking him how to obtain eternal life. A man was attacked on the road and left for dead. Many people that society perceives as “good” pass by this man but a Samaritan took the time to stop, dress his wounds and takes him somewhere to put a roof over his head and allow him to heal
Kevin talks about how society has never put sustained efforts into saving people outside of the hospital until the 60’s
The white paper published in the 60’s indicated that you were more likely to survive a gunshot wound in the Vietnam war than in the streets of the United States because you would have someone trained in first aid at your side
There was significant emphasis on intubation for early paramedics. This was a skill very important to the early physicians because they knew the life saving potential
We talk about the evolution of intubation and how emphasis seems to be changing and the important of still training on this skill because it can be very difficult and high stress
I think it is important to increase training rather than remove a skill set from paramedics
We talk about video options for intubation and the potential future of training
The first paramedics in American Sirens were black men that served their community called “The Hill”
Pittsburgh in the 1960’s was a very difficult city for African Americans. Jobs were not available. They were told they had no value. Then Freedom House ambulance gave them a purpose designed by the father of CPR himself, Peter Safar
Going from not worthy of anything to being trusted with paramedicine at the highest level for your own neighbors, your own community
The first call they run is in the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination
Peter Safar, the father of CPR and an anesthesiologist, designed the early ambulances in a configuration that is still used today, a captains chair because he wanted good access to the airway
Their first medical director, Nancy Caroline, wrote the foundational EMT education text book
The great tragedy is no one can really tell you about Freedom House ambulance until now, the story was intentionally buried and forgotten
“This need to be corrected,” Kevin Hazzard tells the important story