Shannon Smith developed a passion for helping others while caring for her father, whose chronic obstructive pulmonary disease made breathing difficult.
Although Smith’s father died in August, the caregiving experience inspired the 39-year-old to begin working in home health care and enroll in a six-week program that introduces participants to careers in the field.
On Friday, Smith took part in a milestone graduation ceremony marking five years since the rebirth of the historic Freedom House Ambulance Service, the nation’s first emergency medical service to train paramedics beyond basic first aid.
“I’m proud to actually be a part of something so historical. I couldn’t imagine doing something so awesome,” said Smith, who lives in East Liberty.
Located in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Freedom House’s story was featured in the first season of the medical drama “The Pitt,” which chronicles the lives of emergency room staff at a city hospital.
During the episode, the character Willie Alexander, a patient of the trauma center, detailed how Freedom House was founded in 1967 to predominantly serve the Hill District and it was staffed entirely by Black paramedics.
Nearly six decades later, Freedom House 2.0 works to carry on that legacy with new opportunities to diversify the health care workforce.
Graduates of the program leave with certifications in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and mental health first aid. The training program includes ambulance ride-alongs, résumé building, and instruction in professional communication and interview skills, said Emily Lovallo, medical director of Freedom House 2.0.
“When we started this program, the proposal focused on the need for essential workers. We knew our local health care workforce did not reflect the communities that it served,” said Lovallo, who is also an emergency medicine physician at UPMC Mercy.
Over the past five years, the program has had 27 graduating classes across the state, totaling 268 graduates so far.
Speakers at the graduation event included Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor, State Rep. Aerion Abney (District 19), Pittsburgh EMS Chief Amera Gilchrist and John Moon, former Freedom House emergency medical technician and retired assistant chief of Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Service.
“The jobs that you are going to do, and what you’re going to undertake, are some of the most precious jobs that we have in the city of Pittsburgh,” O’Connor said. “You are at the front lines, the faces that you are going to see. You see those individuals when they are at their most terrifying time.”
Twelve graduates walked Friday across the Elsie Hillman Auditorium stage inside the ACH Clear Pathways’ Kaufman Center, located in the Hill District.
“I see our graduates everywhere, at my kids doctor’s appointments, at pharmacies in both the hospitals where I work, in the grocery store where they bring in patients in ambulance bays,” Lovallo said. “They might draw your blood, check even for your next appointment … and every time I’m reminded, this is what community looks like.”