John Moon and his colleagues at Freedom House Ambulance Service played a pivotal — if sometimes forgotten — role in the creation of modern emergency medicine.
Decades after they formed the nation’s first professional paramedic unit, they are now starting to receive recognition for their trailblazing work, with U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, introducing legislation Friday that would award them a Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the nation.
“My goal is to make sure every EMS system in this nation knows its foundation lays with Freedom House,” Moon said.
Lee on Thursday announced her push for the medal at a press conference in the Hill District, just blocks from where Freedom House Ambulance Service was launched in 1967.
It was the first professionally trained paramedic unit, comprising mostly Black men from Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood. Freedom House medics became the first to use advanced lifesaving techniques — including intubation and defibrillation — outside of hospitals.
Freedom House is credited for creating the model for modern EMS around the nation — and world — today.
The survival rate for patients receiving care from the ambulance service was “second to none,” said Dr. Carlene Thornton, of the National Association of EMS Educators.
“They were a trusted lifeline for their community” at a time when the nation was still struggling to implement civil rights, Lee said.
“It’s not lost on us that Black history is often relegated to a footnote, if not entirely erased,” Lee said.
‘Forgotten history’
Even as President Donald Trump has looked to remove from public spaces stories sharing Black history — including displays about slavery at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall — Lee said she felt it was imperative to ensure the founders of Freedom House received recognition “before it’s too late for them to enjoy it.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor agreed with the importance of recognizing the groundbreaking ambulance service.
“Think about what they’ve done for the entire world,” O’Connor said. “You have saved millions of lives. This is a community and an organization that has changed the course of our history.”
A Hill District man on Thursday greeted Moon by reminiscing about a time when Moon had been called to treat injuries at a local football game. Moon had not only cared for an injured player, he also left the coach bandages and medical tape and taught him how to care for minor injuries, the man recalled.
Moon later joined the city’s EMS bureau.
When Moon retired as assistant chief of Pittsburgh EMS in 2009, he began to focus on ensuring Freedom House wasn’t forgotten. Some Pittsburgh medics, he said, didn’t know about Freedom House’s history, even though it took place in their own backyard.
Receiving the Congressional recognition, he said, would bring a spotlight to “a forgotten history of the foundation of EMS service.”
Already, Moon sees the fruits of his efforts to recognize Freedom House.
He spoke at a recent graduation ceremony for the Freedom House 2.0 program, a six-week training to introduce people to the EMS field.
The hit medical drama “The Pitt,” set in Pittsburgh, shared the story of Freedom House with an audience of about 25 million people worldwide during its first season, said Dr. Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, who served as an adviser for the show.
When Pittsburgh in 2024 launched a no-cost training academy for EMTs, officials named the program in honor of Freedom House.
“I’m no longer there, but the legacy lives,” Moon said.