American Sirens American Sirens

American Sirens

The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics

    • 4.9 • 34 Ratings
    • $14.99

Publisher Description

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
 
Until the 1970s, if you suffered a medical crisis, your chances of survival were minimal. A 9-1-1 call might bring police or even the local funeral home. But that all changed with Freedom House EMS in Pittsburgh, a group of Black men who became America’s first paramedics and set the gold standard for emergency medicine around the world, only to have their story and their legacy erased—until now.

In American Sirens, acclaimed journalist and paramedic Kevin Hazzard tells the dramatic story of how a group of young, undereducated Black men forged a new frontier of healthcare. He follows a rich cast of characters that includes John Moon, an orphan who found his calling as a paramedic; Peter Safar, the Nobel Prize-nominated physician who invented CPR and realized his vision for a trained ambulance service; and Nancy Caroline, the idealistic young doctor who turned a scrappy team into an international leader. At every turn, Freedom House battled racism—from the community, the police, and the government. Their job was grueling, the rules made up as they went along, their mandate nearly impossible—and yet despite the long odds and fierce opposition, they succeeded spectacularly. Never-before revealed in full, this is a rich and troubling hidden history of the Black origins of America’s paramedics, a special band of dedicated essential workers, who stand ready to serve day and night on the line between life and death for every one of us. 

GENRE
History
RELEASED
2022
September 20
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
1
Page
PUBLISHER
Grand Central Publishing
SELLER
Hachette Digital, Inc.
SIZE
2.5
MB

Customer Reviews

Gerithegreek ,

I'll help spread the word . . .

The first thing I remember telling my sister when I started reading this book was that I heard an interview on NPR about Freedom House and the beginning of the EMS and couldn't believe I’d never heard of these people before. My sister and I are both nurses. I couldn’t imagine I hadn’t heard of Dr.s Safar or Caroline or Freedom House. I'd never given any thought to how it all began—and ambulances were still hearses when I became a nurse. The story is fascinating, frustrating, inspiring, maddening. I felt like I was watching history being made and scratching my head because it's been hidden for so long. Thank you Kevin Hazzard for relating the story of so many unknown heroes . . . unknown no longer. I will tell others about this book. I put you up on my shelf with Tracy Kidder. And Thank-you to John Moon for his perseverance against all odds: politics, racism, poverty. I put you and your cohort up with Dr. Paul Farmer who dedicated his life's work to the under-dogs of the world.

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