February 16, 2025 • 23 mins
Join me in today's episode as we journey back to the 1960s to honor the unsung heroes of the Freedom House Ambulance Service in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . These pioneers, despite facing systemic racism, revolutionized emergency medical care for Black communities and laid the groundwork for modern paramedics. With the visionary leadership of Phil Hallen and groundbreaking medical contributions from Dr. Peter Safar and Dr. Nancy Caroline, these 25 Black men proved that resilience and innovation could overcome adversity. We reflect on their enduring legacy and the need to recognize their pivotal role in shaping emergency services as we know them today.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daijné (00:00):
Is this thing on?
Hello, hello, uh-oh, anotheryapper with a mic.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to the Napkin Inbetween
podcast.
I'm your host, Daijné Jones.
Girl Beyonce won an album of theyear.
(00:22):
Finally, they stopped playingwith my good sis.
Oh my god.
I cannot tell you how happy Iwas.
This is the peak of my week.
Mind you, I we're gettingstraight into it.
Y'all know we had to talk aboutthis.
I cannot tell you how happy Iwas that she finally won album
(00:43):
of the year.
Mind you, this should be likeher fourth or so album of the
year.
Lemonade should have won albumof the year.
Self-titled should have wonalbum of the year.
Renaissance should have wonalbum of the year.
But they were playing in mygirl's face with this album.
She made it so that theyphysically could.
There was no other answer.
They had to give her album ofthe year.
If they didn't, it would haveproved everything that we have
(01:06):
been saying, that they have beensnubbing her, that they have
been actively campaigningagainst her and undermining her
work and they like there, it wasjust no fucking question.
It was no fucking question andI'm so proud of her and just
proud that she finally did itlike oh, I love her, I really do
.
And I just I just knew, like assoon as they announced that she
(01:28):
had won album of the year, Iknew that they were gonna come
out they meaning people on theinternet were gonna come out and
have excuses for why she won.
Oh, Jay-Z bought it.
It was rigged like all the shit, like I knew it.
Mind you, if we really want totalk about Jay-Z buying anything
in terms of the Grammys, ifJay-Z was going to buy anything,
he bought Lemonade beingsnubbed Like let's be fucking
(01:51):
for real.
But I knew going to bed Sundaynight that I was going to wake
up Monday morning and peoplewere going to be crashing out
and all their conspiracytheories, all their weird why
she won, other than the factthat the album was just fucking
it.
And I knew that there was goingto be a little racism sprinkled
on for a little razzle dazzle.
So I went to bed sunday nightready for war the next day,
(02:12):
because y'all know me, I love toargue, I love to call people
out.
It is literally my favoriteextracurricular activity, apart
from snatching JLO's wig everychance that I get.
And when I went to bed Sundaynight I just knew I was going to
wake up and it was going to bethe Swifties.
I knew that they were going tobe the ones who were being
racist, who were making up theseweird, stupid conspiracy
theories.
Imagine my surprise when I wokeup and it was Billie fans.
(02:37):
What I literally that was theplot twist that I did not have
on my bingo card.
I was shook.
We snatched their wigs, no less.
But like I was prepared to go towar with Swifties, I, I, I was
so ready and the Swifties thistime they've been quiet or
(02:59):
they've been going at Billiefans in support of Beyonce, like
whoa quite the change of events.
I mean, it makes sense.
Obviously, it is just the bareminimum, so I'm not going to do
too much and be like, oh my god,thank you, Swifties like bare
fucking minimum.
But it was just like I was notexpecting it to be the Billie
Eilish fans.
(03:20):
That's crazy.
That was just so crazy to me.
I'm not going to gonna lie.
I was shocked.
I don't.
I maybe I shouldn't have been,because all it takes is a little
bit of white people to getupset and then they immediately
resort to racism.
But I was shocked.
I'm not gonna hold you.
I was shocked.
I was not expecting that.
And it's just like all of theircritiques or all of their
support of why Billie Eilish'salbum should have won.
(03:40):
They're like, oh, this song,wildflower, l'amor de ma vie,
the greatest.
Like, how could she not winwith these songs?
And it's like, okay, so this isalbum of the year, not song.
Right?
So in terms of album of theyear, the award is based on an
entire body of work.
Right like you can't just pickand choose different songs.
To be like this is why sheshould have won.
(04:01):
Tell me, in reference to theentire album, why she should
have won.
Because I like yes, I was readyto argue, but I was also ready
to hear people out.
Because it's it's not wrong tobe upset that your fav didn't
win.
You can be upset, that's,that's completely fine.
But it's like have an actualargument to back up why you're
upset.
And also, you don't have to beracist.
(04:23):
Right, like you can be upsetwithout being racist.
I wonder if white people knowthat you don't have to
immediately resort to racismwhen you're upset.
There are other ways that wecan express our upsetness.
You know what I mean.
But the two main arguments thatI saw was number one oh, this
song, that song, blah, blah,blah, which again it's album of
the year, so we're talking aboutthe entire body of work, not
just songs.
(04:43):
But the other argument was oh,this many streams, that many
streams.
I'm gonna stop you right there,because the Grammy's aren't
about streams, bookie butt.
The Grammy for Album of theYear is about how your entire
album, the entire body of work,can affect the music industry
culture, like historicalsignificance.
That's what the award is about.
And every single time that I'veseen a Billie Eilish fan talk
(05:06):
about why Billie Eilish shouldhave won album of the year,
they're not giving validarguments to sustain that in
regards to what album of theyear and how that award is
picked.
And don't get me wrong, I'm ahuge Billie Eilish fan.
I love Billie Eilish.
I loved hit me hard and softalbum went triple fucking
platinum in my home.
But just because I likesomething, I can't turn off my
(05:27):
logical brain and just root forthat thing and this is why I
feel like I can never say that Iam a stan of any one person.
I would never say that I'm inthe Beyhive.
I don't know what BillieEilish's fans call themselves,
but I would never say that I'min their like stan.
Because when you see yourselfas a stan, the parasocial line
(05:47):
that you have with the artistit's not even that, it's blurry,
it is non-existent.
Like you're going this hard,you're being racist, you're
spouting these crazy conspiracytheories for a stranger, for
someone who does not know you,for someone who does not know
that you exist.
And it's like, where's thedecorum, where's the shame?
(06:09):
Like, what?
Like I just could never be thatperson who disregards all logic
and stands for something, nomatter what.
Like that's weird.
That's weird.
I think your brain is rotted alittle bit and you can feel an
emotional connection tosomeone's music and someone's
art, but, like, don't let youremotional connection override
(06:30):
your logic.
There has to still be logic and, in my opinion, I have not seen
one logical argument as to whyBillie Eilish should have won
album of the year over Beyonce,when we look at what the
criteria for album of the yearare, it's not about streams,
it's not about popularity, it'snot about this song, that song.
It is about the body of workand Cowboy Carter was such an
(06:55):
amazing body of work.
It told a historical story ofhow country music has been
whitewashed and stolen andappropriated from black people.
It brought light to so manydifferent country artists, black
country artists, and it changedthe thought process that as an
artist, you have to stay in thisone specific box.
There's five plus differentgenres on the Cowboy Carter
(07:16):
album because genres are a funnylittle concept and they're
there to keep people in aspecific box, to kind of keep
them in line within the industry.
And Beyonce is like you're notgoing to do that to me and nor
do we have to do that as artists, like we can branch out, we can
do different things, we canchange the game, and that's what
Album of the Year is about andthat's why she won.
Period.
(07:37):
I'm sure that people willcontinue to be upset about it.
It doesn't change the fact thatthe 13,000 voting members
listened to all of the albums,because that's another critique
I saw.
People are like it shouldn'thave won because I didn't hear
it.
Who are you?
Who are you, mind you?
It's always these fuckingpeople with no profile picture.
You struggle with even puttingyourself out there.
(08:00):
You're going to try to critiquesomeone else who is actively
putting themselves out there andtrying to change the game.
Please be so fucking for real.
Them recording academy membersdo not give one fuck, two fuck,
red fuck, blue fuck.
If a random fuck on tiktok hasnot heard the Cowboy Carter
album, they listen to it.
They listen to all the albums,which is why they can accurately
(08:21):
critique all of the albums likeplease, please, be so for real.
I could go on and on about thisforever, but I just like, I'm
just so proud of her and I lovethat she took the time to tell
an unknown story and bring lightto the actual roots of country
music and reclaimed it,regardless of people saying that
she's not country enough ortrying to overlook her because
(08:41):
she's not a country artist.
Like I'm just so proud ofeverything that the album
represents and and the storythat it tells.
So, anyways, congratulations toBeyonce.
My girl did that and I'm so, soproud of her.
Segueing into an untold storyand what we're gonna talk about
today, I want to shed light onmore people in black history who
have paved the way for the lifeand the things that we know of
(09:04):
today.
So today we're going to focuson the medical field and
specifically ambulance and EMTservices.
So let's go back in time to the1960s and specifically in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Prior to the mid-1960s, if youwere experiencing an emergency,
who you would call would eitherbe the police or a local funeral
home.
Once you called, they wouldshow up with a paddy wagon.
(09:27):
They would put you in the backof the paddy wagon and then they
would transport you to thehospital.
At most, the services thatwould be provided in these paddy
wagons was basic first aid.
So the basic first aid would belike CPR, treating minor cuts
and bruises, treating minorburns, applying bandages and
dresses like, draining blisters,like really, really basic stuff
(09:48):
.
So if you were experiencinglike a real emergency, like a
heart attack or anything likethat, you would have to wait for
the things that could actuallyactively help those things until
you got to the hospital.
So because of how basic thefirst aid was, there was a high
rate of mortality because peoplewere not getting the treatment
that they needed in anappropriate amount of time, and
(10:10):
in cities like Pittsburgh it wasracially segregated.
So it was not only that, it wastaking forever for you know,
the police to arrive and itwould take them a while to get
to the hospital so that you canget actual treatment In the
black communities.
It would take even longerbecause they were further away
from the hospitals or there wasa lot of tension between black
people and the police, and sothe black people could call the
(10:30):
police and they could deem it asnot an emergency so that they
wouldn't come or they would justtake forever, and by the time
they got there the person hadeither succumbed to their
injuries or succumbed to theinjuries shortly after arriving
to the hospital.
Also, there were times whereblack people didn't even want to
call the police because ofracial tensions and how black
people are treated by the police.
(10:50):
So the ambulance service, whichwas named the Freedom House
Ambulance Service, was initiallystarted in predominantly black
communities so that they couldget the emergency care that they
needed that was not beingprovided to them by the police.
So there was a non-profit inPittsburgh called the Freedom
House Enterprises, and the goalof this non-profit was to
provide job training andemployment opportunities in
(11:11):
Pittsburgh.
The Freedom House AmbulanceService was born out of this
non-profit, so Freedom HouseEnterprises received part of its
funding from the Falk Fund,which was headed by Phil Hallan.
Phil Hallan's main goal was toimprove the responses to medical
emergencies as well as createemployment opportunities
specifically for blackcommunities in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania and morespecifically, the Hill District.
(11:33):
So then word got to Peter Safar, who is known as the father of
CPR, that Phil wanted to improvethe ambulance service in
Pittsburgh, and the improvementof the ambulance service was
really important to Peter Safarbecause his daughter had died
following an asthma attack intransport to the hospital.
She had had this asthma attackand while she was being
transported to the hospital theycould only do so much in the
(11:56):
ambulances that they had at thetime and because it was just
basic first aid.
She unfortunately passed away.
So Peter and Phil got togetherand they were both able to
contribute to a better equippedambulance service.
Peter offered his ideas on howto better improve the ambulance
service, namely with moreintense paramedic training and a
better model of, you know, thevehicle that people were being
(12:16):
transferred in, and phil wasable to offer actual people that
could be trained and could runthe ambulance service.
So phil contacts freedom houseenterprise and is able to
recruit workers who they cantrain to be what we know as
paramedics today.
So the first people who wererecruited for the Freedom House
Ambulance Service were 25 blackmen, all from the Hill District
(12:37):
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Now the interesting part aboutthe men who were recruited these
men were deemed unemployable.
Either they hadn't graduatedhigh school, they had criminal
records, and so people justthrew them away, didn't want to
spend time trying to activelyrebuild or help them to get jobs
or an education or anything.
So these 25 men are recruited.
(12:58):
They go through training withPeter Safar.
So the course with Dr.
Safar was a 32-week 300-hourcourse which included anatomy,
physiology, CPR, advanced firstaid, nursing and defensive
driving.
And for the recruits who hadnot finished high school, they
were helped with completingtheir GEDs.
So in 1967, the Freedom HouseAmbulance Service was began and
(13:20):
then in 1968 was when it becamefully operational and they had
two ambulances.
So they're serving the blackneighborhoods and it got to the
point where they were respondingeven faster than the police and
they could respond in less than10 minutes to people who needed
emergency services.
And not only were theyresponding faster but because
they were serving predominantlyblack communities, as black
(13:43):
people, when they wereresponding they were much more
gracious and much moreunderstanding to the sicknesses
and the needs that the blackcommunity had.
I was watching an interview ofone of the men who was a part of
the Freedom House AmbulanceService because, mind you, some
of them are still alive todayand he said that when he would
go into the homes it was likeeither people that he knew
(14:03):
because they were all incommunity together or it was
people that he was like.
He realized and understood thathe was a guest in the home and
that he was there to help andall he wanted to do was help.
And it got to the point wherethe people in other communities,
specifically white people whoare outside of the black
community, wanted to call theambulance service over the
police, because the ambulanceservice was known to have a
higher standard of care and theywere responding much faster
(14:26):
than the police.
And even though they weremedically trained and doing far
better than the police, and eventhough they were medically
trained and doing far betterthan the police, who did not
have any medical training, theyfaced so much racism within the
hospitals so they wouldtransport patients to the
hospital and they would bemistaken for lower hospital
staff.
You know they would be asked togo mop the floor or do whatever
, and they're like oh, I'm herewith the ambulance service, like
(14:49):
that's, I don't work in thatdepartment, so they would be
discriminated against in thatway of being seen as, oh, like
you must be the person who'shere to mop the floor, or white
people in the hospital.
Sometimes they would refuse toallow the trained people to help
them because they were black.
Racism is the craziest fuckingthing in the world to me.
(15:09):
You are in the hospital dealingwith an injury, a possible life
affecting injury that couldkill you, and you don't want
help from this person becausethey are black.
You would rather die.
You would rather die in somecases, than allow a black person
to touch you or to help you.
Like what the actual fuck?
And it's crazy because we arehere several years later and
(15:33):
people would still rather behurt by a white man than saved
by a black woman.
Ie why we have trump in officenow.
Craziest thing in the fuckingworld.
So the people in these whitecommunities they wanted the
ambulance service, but theydidn't want the black people to
be the ones offering theambulance service.
So then in 1970, Peter Flahertybecomes mayor of the city, and
(15:54):
Peter Flaherty had had along-standing opposition to the
Freedom House Ambulance Service.
He said that because theambulance service was in part
funded by the city, that thecity should be the one
overseeing the service, andbecause the city wasn't
overseeing it, he wanted to endthe freedom house service.
Phil Hallen and Peter Safarclocked his tea with this.
They were like you don'tactually give a fuck if it's
(16:17):
overseen by the city.
You don't like that it isoperating by black people and
you also don't like that thepolice union is not being
utilized as much as theambulance service.
Because the police union were,in the mayor's ear, upset
because people didn't want tocall the police, they would
rather call the ambulanceservice because, again, higher
quality of care and betterresponse time.
(16:38):
And so the police were worriedabout losing their jobs and so
they're angry with the mayorbecause they voted him in.
And now they're like I'm aboutto lose my job.
Like they were upset thatpeople didn't want to utilize
them as much and so, in order tokeep the police union happy and
to keep himself getting votesand in office, the mayor wanted
to end the freedom houseambulance service.
So this is where they start totry to take the idea of this
(17:01):
ambulance service and overpowerit with white people and push
all of the black people who areoperating the service out of it.
The first thing that happens isthe Freedom Ambulance Service
requests with the Mayor toexpand their contract so that
they can provide service todifferent parts of the city,
because part of the issue waspeople would want to call the
ambulance service but theambulance service wasn't able to
service them because theyweren't licensed to go into that
(17:23):
part of the city.
They weren't able to servicethat district Mayor shuts this
down.
He doesn't like that ideabecause, again, he wants to push
the black people out and appealto the police.
So if he were to expand it andallow the black people to
service more of the community,that would further aid in the
police officers losing their job.
This was something that theFreedom Ambulance Service wanted
to do because, number one, theywanted to help more of the city
(17:45):
and then also, if they wereable to service more affluent
parts of the city, they couldcollect more of the fee that
they also, if they were able toservice more affluent parts of
the city, they could collectmore of the fee that they
charged in order to run theirambulance service and get more
money and be able to expand iteven more.
The Mayor knew all of this,which is why he also said we're
not expanding your contract.
In addition to refusing toexpand the contract the contract
that they already hadpreviously in place they were
(18:06):
stalling the money that the citywas supposed to give the
ambulance service in order tooperate, and they also decided
to cut the funding to theambulance service by 50%.
The Mayor also signed anordinance so that the ambulance
service couldn't use theirsirens in the downtown area.
The reason he gave that theyweren't allowed to use the
sirens was noise complaints.
So because they weren't allowedto use their sirens anymore, it
(18:27):
slowed them down and theyweren't able to transport their
patients to the hospital as fast, and they weren't able to even
get to the patients as fast.
And so the police were able toget to the patients before them.
And then, in 1974, the Mayorannounced plans for a citywide
ambulance service which wouldinclude police who were also
trained as paramedics.
Where did he get this idea from?
So the mayor had called in oneof the men who had worked for
(18:51):
the freedom house ambulanceservice and this young man who
worked for the ambulance service.
He thought like, oh my gosh,I'm getting called in by the
Mayor, I'm gonna be able toshare my ideas with him.
And so he took a proposal tohis meeting with the Mayor to
talk about you know how theycould expand the ambulance
service to more parts of thecity of Pittsburgh.
And so he goes into thismeeting with the Mayor and he
has his proposal, he presents itto the mayor and the mayor,
(19:12):
instead of talking about theproposal with him, talks about
how they can help with the noisethat the ambulances are making.
So he says you know, instead ofusing your siren, can you use
like a bell?
Just like stupid talk.
That didn't really matter.
But he he takes the proposalfrom this young man and he's
like I'm going to talk aboutthis with other people and we'll
get back to you about you knowhow we can expand this service.
(19:32):
Young man never hears back fromthe Mayor to help with the
expansion.
But the Mayor takes thisproposal and uses it as a way to
expand the ambulance servicewithin the city, steals his plan
Like we're not going tosugarcoat it.
That's exactly what the fuckthe mayor did.
So on October 15th 1975, theFreedom House Ambulance Service
closes and they start thisexpanded ambulance service in
(19:56):
the city.
Those who were hired for thisnew ambulance service were all
white.
There were some people from theambulance service who were
hired to help with this newexpanded city ambulance service.
However, the goal was to pushall of them out.
And so the different ways thatthose who had initially operated
the ambulance service, theblack men who were pushed out,
(20:17):
those who had a criminal record,were not rehired into this new
city's ambulance service.
They were given pass/ failexams on things that they were
not educated on, but the whiteparamedics were educated on.
And so they were all given thesame test, but with different
amounts of knowledge, and ifthey failed the exam they were
pushed out.
And then, for those who didn'thave criminal records and were
(20:38):
able to pass these pass/ failexams that they were not taught
on, they were assigned tonon-essential or non-medical
parts of this new city ambulance.
And a year later, of the 26Freedom House Ambulance members
who had joined this new cityordinance, only half of them
were still there.
And, mind you, of the people whowere there, like I said, they
were given non-essential ornon-medical positions within the
(21:00):
service, or they were beingoverseen by white people who
were not as experienced as them,which is just the never-ending
cycle of what it is like to be ablack person in america.
You're undermined, you provethat you are in fact, not
unemployable and you have skillsand you can use these skills to
better help your community.
(21:20):
They see that and they're likeI'm going to take this thing,
I'm going to push you out andI'm going to steal it from you,
white people, I want to pull myfucking hair out.
I want to pull my hair out.
This is what shaped theambulance service that we know,
not only in this country but inthe world, this ambulance
(21:40):
service that was created by Dr.
Peter Safar and then expandedupon.
I don't know if I mentionedthis earlier.
In 1974, Dr.
Nancy Caroline joined theFreedom House Ambulance Service
and she expanded on theparamedic training that these
black men had.
So she taught them about IVdrug administration, intubation,
cardiac care.
She helped them expand, youknow, the knowledge that they
(22:02):
already had, and this is what wesee today in our ambulance
service.
It is rooted in Dr Phil Safer,Dr.
Caroline and these 25 black menwho became the first
recruitment of paramedics forthe freedom house ambulance
service.
Without these men, we would nothave the ambulance service that
we know of today, and I thinkit's so important to give them
(22:22):
their flowers and to recognizethem, because this might not be
something that a lot of peopleknow, but it is just a testament
to the continued whitewashingand appropriation of black
people and our contributions tosociety.
There was no ambulance servicelike this anywhere before these
25 black men who operated theFreedom House Ambulance Service.
(22:43):
To all of them, I just want tosay thank you for your service
and for your contribution to notonly black history, but just
history in general.
This is something that wasliterally not a thing before.
They were recruited and trainedand operated the Freedom House
Ambulance Service, and theyshould be recognized for that.
We really are it like blackpeople are just it, and it's
just so overlooked, as it hasalways been, and so I just
(23:05):
wanted to bring more attentionto these 25 men who started the
ambulance service that we knowof today and that helps so many
people.
Okay, I'm done talking, um.
Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode.
I hope that it was educational.
Again, if there is arecommendation for someone that
we should talk about, DM me,email me, leave it in the
(23:25):
comments.
Um, I just want to shed morelight on these untold stories.
Thank you for for tuning intoday.
I hope everyone is having agood day, except for that orange
drink lady, and I will see youall in the next episode.
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
The Napkin in Between, byDaijné Jones, produced by Daijné
Jones, post-production byDaijné Jones, music by Sam
Champagne and graphics by IsmaVidal.
(23:48):
Don't forget to like andsubscribe.
See you next.
Is this thing on?
Hello, hello, uh-oh, anotheryapper with a mic.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to the Napkin Inbetween
podcast.
I'm your host, Daijné Jones.
Girl Beyonce won an album of theyear.
(00:22):
Finally, they stopped playingwith my good sis.
Oh my god.
I cannot tell you how happy Iwas.
This is the peak of my week.
Mind you, I we're gettingstraight into it.
Y'all know we had to talk aboutthis.
I cannot tell you how happy Iwas that she finally won album
(00:43):
of the year.
Mind you, this should be likeher fourth or so album of the
year.
Lemonade should have won albumof the year.
Self-titled should have wonalbum of the year.
Renaissance should have wonalbum of the year.
But they were playing in mygirl's face with this album.
She made it so that theyphysically could.
There was no other answer.
They had to give her album ofthe year.
If they didn't, it would haveproved everything that we have
(01:06):
been saying, that they have beensnubbing her, that they have
been actively campaigningagainst her and undermining her
work and they like there, it wasjust no fucking question.
It was no fucking question andI'm so proud of her and just
proud that she finally did itlike oh, I love her, I really do
.
And I just I just knew, like assoon as they announced that she
(01:28):
had won album of the year, Iknew that they were gonna come
out they meaning people on theinternet were gonna come out and
have excuses for why she won.
Oh, Jay-Z bought it.
It was rigged like all the shit, like I knew it.
Mind you, if we really want totalk about Jay-Z buying anything
in terms of the Grammys, ifJay-Z was going to buy anything,
he bought Lemonade beingsnubbed Like let's be fucking
(01:51):
for real.
But I knew going to bed Sundaynight that I was going to wake
up Monday morning and peoplewere going to be crashing out
and all their conspiracytheories, all their weird why
she won, other than the factthat the album was just fucking
it.
And I knew that there was goingto be a little racism sprinkled
on for a little razzle dazzle.
So I went to bed sunday nightready for war the next day,
(02:12):
because y'all know me, I love toargue, I love to call people
out.
It is literally my favoriteextracurricular activity, apart
from snatching JLO's wig everychance that I get.
And when I went to bed Sundaynight I just knew I was going to
wake up and it was going to bethe Swifties.
I knew that they were going tobe the ones who were being
racist, who were making up theseweird, stupid conspiracy
theories.
Imagine my surprise when I wokeup and it was Billie fans.
(02:37):
What I literally that was theplot twist that I did not have
on my bingo card.
I was shook.
We snatched their wigs, no less.
But like I was prepared to go towar with Swifties, I, I, I was
so ready and the Swifties thistime they've been quiet or
(02:59):
they've been going at Billiefans in support of Beyonce, like
whoa quite the change of events.
I mean, it makes sense.
Obviously, it is just the bareminimum, so I'm not going to do
too much and be like, oh my god,thank you, Swifties like bare
fucking minimum.
But it was just like I was notexpecting it to be the Billie
Eilish fans.
(03:20):
That's crazy.
That was just so crazy to me.
I'm not going to gonna lie.
I was shocked.
I don't.
I maybe I shouldn't have been,because all it takes is a little
bit of white people to getupset and then they immediately
resort to racism.
But I was shocked.
I'm not gonna hold you.
I was shocked.
I was not expecting that.
And it's just like all of theircritiques or all of their
support of why Billie Eilish'salbum should have won.
(03:40):
They're like, oh, this song,wildflower, l'amor de ma vie,
the greatest.
Like, how could she not winwith these songs?
And it's like, okay, so this isalbum of the year, not song.
Right?
So in terms of album of theyear, the award is based on an
entire body of work.
Right like you can't just pickand choose different songs.
To be like this is why sheshould have won.
(04:01):
Tell me, in reference to theentire album, why she should
have won.
Because I like yes, I was readyto argue, but I was also ready
to hear people out.
Because it's it's not wrong tobe upset that your fav didn't
win.
You can be upset, that's,that's completely fine.
But it's like have an actualargument to back up why you're
upset.
And also, you don't have to beracist.
(04:23):
Right, like you can be upsetwithout being racist.
I wonder if white people knowthat you don't have to
immediately resort to racismwhen you're upset.
There are other ways that wecan express our upsetness.
You know what I mean.
But the two main arguments thatI saw was number one oh, this
song, that song, blah, blah,blah, which again it's album of
the year, so we're talking aboutthe entire body of work, not
just songs.
(04:43):
But the other argument was oh,this many streams, that many
streams.
I'm gonna stop you right there,because the Grammy's aren't
about streams, bookie butt.
The Grammy for Album of theYear is about how your entire
album, the entire body of work,can affect the music industry
culture, like historicalsignificance.
That's what the award is about.
And every single time that I'veseen a Billie Eilish fan talk
(05:06):
about why Billie Eilish shouldhave won album of the year,
they're not giving validarguments to sustain that in
regards to what album of theyear and how that award is
picked.
And don't get me wrong, I'm ahuge Billie Eilish fan.
I love Billie Eilish.
I loved hit me hard and softalbum went triple fucking
platinum in my home.
But just because I likesomething, I can't turn off my
(05:27):
logical brain and just root forthat thing and this is why I
feel like I can never say that Iam a stan of any one person.
I would never say that I'm inthe Beyhive.
I don't know what BillieEilish's fans call themselves,
but I would never say that I'min their like stan.
Because when you see yourselfas a stan, the parasocial line
(05:47):
that you have with the artistit's not even that, it's blurry,
it is non-existent.
Like you're going this hard,you're being racist, you're
spouting these crazy conspiracytheories for a stranger, for
someone who does not know you,for someone who does not know
that you exist.
And it's like, where's thedecorum, where's the shame?
(06:09):
Like, what?
Like I just could never be thatperson who disregards all logic
and stands for something, nomatter what.
Like that's weird.
That's weird.
I think your brain is rotted alittle bit and you can feel an
emotional connection tosomeone's music and someone's
art, but, like, don't let youremotional connection override
(06:30):
your logic.
There has to still be logic and, in my opinion, I have not seen
one logical argument as to whyBillie Eilish should have won
album of the year over Beyonce,when we look at what the
criteria for album of the yearare, it's not about streams,
it's not about popularity, it'snot about this song, that song.
It is about the body of workand Cowboy Carter was such an
(06:55):
amazing body of work.
It told a historical story ofhow country music has been
whitewashed and stolen andappropriated from black people.
It brought light to so manydifferent country artists, black
country artists, and it changedthe thought process that as an
artist, you have to stay in thisone specific box.
There's five plus differentgenres on the Cowboy Carter
(07:16):
album because genres are a funnylittle concept and they're
there to keep people in aspecific box, to kind of keep
them in line within the industry.
And Beyonce is like you're notgoing to do that to me and nor
do we have to do that as artists, like we can branch out, we can
do different things, we canchange the game, and that's what
Album of the Year is about andthat's why she won.
Period.
(07:37):
I'm sure that people willcontinue to be upset about it.
It doesn't change the fact thatthe 13,000 voting members
listened to all of the albums,because that's another critique
I saw.
People are like it shouldn'thave won because I didn't hear
it.
Who are you?
Who are you, mind you?
It's always these fuckingpeople with no profile picture.
You struggle with even puttingyourself out there.
(08:00):
You're going to try to critiquesomeone else who is actively
putting themselves out there andtrying to change the game.
Please be so fucking for real.
Them recording academy membersdo not give one fuck, two fuck,
red fuck, blue fuck.
If a random fuck on tiktok hasnot heard the Cowboy Carter
album, they listen to it.
They listen to all the albums,which is why they can accurately
(08:21):
critique all of the albums likeplease, please, be so for real.
I could go on and on about thisforever, but I just like, I'm
just so proud of her and I lovethat she took the time to tell
an unknown story and bring lightto the actual roots of country
music and reclaimed it,regardless of people saying that
she's not country enough ortrying to overlook her because
(08:41):
she's not a country artist.
Like I'm just so proud ofeverything that the album
represents and and the storythat it tells.
So, anyways, congratulations toBeyonce.
My girl did that and I'm so, soproud of her.
Segueing into an untold storyand what we're gonna talk about
today, I want to shed light onmore people in black history who
have paved the way for the lifeand the things that we know of
(09:04):
today.
So today we're going to focuson the medical field and
specifically ambulance and EMTservices.
So let's go back in time to the1960s and specifically in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Prior to the mid-1960s, if youwere experiencing an emergency,
who you would call would eitherbe the police or a local funeral
home.
Once you called, they wouldshow up with a paddy wagon.
(09:27):
They would put you in the backof the paddy wagon and then they
would transport you to thehospital.
At most, the services thatwould be provided in these paddy
wagons was basic first aid.
So the basic first aid would belike CPR, treating minor cuts
and bruises, treating minorburns, applying bandages and
dresses like, draining blisters,like really, really basic stuff
(09:48):
.
So if you were experiencinglike a real emergency, like a
heart attack or anything likethat, you would have to wait for
the things that could actuallyactively help those things until
you got to the hospital.
So because of how basic thefirst aid was, there was a high
rate of mortality because peoplewere not getting the treatment
that they needed in anappropriate amount of time, and
(10:10):
in cities like Pittsburgh it wasracially segregated.
So it was not only that, it wastaking forever for you know,
the police to arrive and itwould take them a while to get
to the hospital so that you canget actual treatment In the
black communities.
It would take even longerbecause they were further away
from the hospitals or there wasa lot of tension between black
people and the police, and sothe black people could call the
(10:30):
police and they could deem it asnot an emergency so that they
wouldn't come or they would justtake forever, and by the time
they got there the person hadeither succumbed to their
injuries or succumbed to theinjuries shortly after arriving
to the hospital.
Also, there were times whereblack people didn't even want to
call the police because ofracial tensions and how black
people are treated by the police.
(10:50):
So the ambulance service, whichwas named the Freedom House
Ambulance Service, was initiallystarted in predominantly black
communities so that they couldget the emergency care that they
needed that was not beingprovided to them by the police.
So there was a non-profit inPittsburgh called the Freedom
House Enterprises, and the goalof this non-profit was to
provide job training andemployment opportunities in
(11:11):
Pittsburgh.
The Freedom House AmbulanceService was born out of this
non-profit, so Freedom HouseEnterprises received part of its
funding from the Falk Fund,which was headed by Phil Hallan.
Phil Hallan's main goal was toimprove the responses to medical
emergencies as well as createemployment opportunities
specifically for blackcommunities in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania and morespecifically, the Hill District.
(11:33):
So then word got to Peter Safar, who is known as the father of
CPR, that Phil wanted to improvethe ambulance service in
Pittsburgh, and the improvementof the ambulance service was
really important to Peter Safarbecause his daughter had died
following an asthma attack intransport to the hospital.
She had had this asthma attackand while she was being
transported to the hospital theycould only do so much in the
(11:56):
ambulances that they had at thetime and because it was just
basic first aid.
She unfortunately passed away.
So Peter and Phil got togetherand they were both able to
contribute to a better equippedambulance service.
Peter offered his ideas on howto better improve the ambulance
service, namely with moreintense paramedic training and a
better model of, you know, thevehicle that people were being
(12:16):
transferred in, and phil wasable to offer actual people that
could be trained and could runthe ambulance service.
So phil contacts freedom houseenterprise and is able to
recruit workers who they cantrain to be what we know as
paramedics today.
So the first people who wererecruited for the Freedom House
Ambulance Service were 25 blackmen, all from the Hill District
(12:37):
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Now the interesting part aboutthe men who were recruited these
men were deemed unemployable.
Either they hadn't graduatedhigh school, they had criminal
records, and so people justthrew them away, didn't want to
spend time trying to activelyrebuild or help them to get jobs
or an education or anything.
So these 25 men are recruited.
(12:58):
They go through training withPeter Safar.
So the course with Dr.
Safar was a 32-week 300-hourcourse which included anatomy,
physiology, CPR, advanced firstaid, nursing and defensive
driving.
And for the recruits who hadnot finished high school, they
were helped with completingtheir GEDs.
So in 1967, the Freedom HouseAmbulance Service was began and
(13:20):
then in 1968 was when it becamefully operational and they had
two ambulances.
So they're serving the blackneighborhoods and it got to the
point where they were respondingeven faster than the police and
they could respond in less than10 minutes to people who needed
emergency services.
And not only were theyresponding faster but because
they were serving predominantlyblack communities, as black
(13:43):
people, when they wereresponding they were much more
gracious and much moreunderstanding to the sicknesses
and the needs that the blackcommunity had.
I was watching an interview ofone of the men who was a part of
the Freedom House AmbulanceService because, mind you, some
of them are still alive todayand he said that when he would
go into the homes it was likeeither people that he knew
(14:03):
because they were all incommunity together or it was
people that he was like.
He realized and understood thathe was a guest in the home and
that he was there to help andall he wanted to do was help.
And it got to the point wherethe people in other communities,
specifically white people whoare outside of the black
community, wanted to call theambulance service over the
police, because the ambulanceservice was known to have a
higher standard of care and theywere responding much faster
(14:26):
than the police.
And even though they weremedically trained and doing far
better than the police, and eventhough they were medically
trained and doing far betterthan the police, who did not
have any medical training, theyfaced so much racism within the
hospitals so they wouldtransport patients to the
hospital and they would bemistaken for lower hospital
staff.
You know they would be asked togo mop the floor or do whatever
, and they're like oh, I'm herewith the ambulance service, like
(14:49):
that's, I don't work in thatdepartment, so they would be
discriminated against in thatway of being seen as, oh, like
you must be the person who'shere to mop the floor, or white
people in the hospital.
Sometimes they would refuse toallow the trained people to help
them because they were black.
Racism is the craziest fuckingthing in the world to me.
(15:09):
You are in the hospital dealingwith an injury, a possible life
affecting injury that couldkill you, and you don't want
help from this person becausethey are black.
You would rather die.
You would rather die in somecases, than allow a black person
to touch you or to help you.
Like what the actual fuck?
And it's crazy because we arehere several years later and
(15:33):
people would still rather behurt by a white man than saved
by a black woman.
Ie why we have trump in officenow.
Craziest thing in the fuckingworld.
So the people in these whitecommunities they wanted the
ambulance service, but theydidn't want the black people to
be the ones offering theambulance service.
So then in 1970, Peter Flahertybecomes mayor of the city, and
(15:54):
Peter Flaherty had had along-standing opposition to the
Freedom House Ambulance Service.
He said that because theambulance service was in part
funded by the city, that thecity should be the one
overseeing the service, andbecause the city wasn't
overseeing it, he wanted to endthe freedom house service.
Phil Hallen and Peter Safarclocked his tea with this.
They were like you don'tactually give a fuck if it's
(16:17):
overseen by the city.
You don't like that it isoperating by black people and
you also don't like that thepolice union is not being
utilized as much as theambulance service.
Because the police union were,in the mayor's ear, upset
because people didn't want tocall the police, they would
rather call the ambulanceservice because, again, higher
quality of care and betterresponse time.
(16:38):
And so the police were worriedabout losing their jobs and so
they're angry with the mayorbecause they voted him in.
And now they're like I'm aboutto lose my job.
Like they were upset thatpeople didn't want to utilize
them as much and so, in order tokeep the police union happy and
to keep himself getting votesand in office, the mayor wanted
to end the freedom houseambulance service.
So this is where they start totry to take the idea of this
(17:01):
ambulance service and overpowerit with white people and push
all of the black people who areoperating the service out of it.
The first thing that happens isthe Freedom Ambulance Service
requests with the Mayor toexpand their contract so that
they can provide service todifferent parts of the city,
because part of the issue waspeople would want to call the
ambulance service but theambulance service wasn't able to
service them because theyweren't licensed to go into that
(17:23):
part of the city.
They weren't able to servicethat district Mayor shuts this
down.
He doesn't like that ideabecause, again, he wants to push
the black people out and appealto the police.
So if he were to expand it andallow the black people to
service more of the community,that would further aid in the
police officers losing their job.
This was something that theFreedom Ambulance Service wanted
to do because, number one, theywanted to help more of the city
(17:45):
and then also, if they wereable to service more affluent
parts of the city, they couldcollect more of the fee that
they also, if they were able toservice more affluent parts of
the city, they could collectmore of the fee that they
charged in order to run theirambulance service and get more
money and be able to expand iteven more.
The Mayor knew all of this,which is why he also said we're
not expanding your contract.
In addition to refusing toexpand the contract the contract
that they already hadpreviously in place they were
(18:06):
stalling the money that the citywas supposed to give the
ambulance service in order tooperate, and they also decided
to cut the funding to theambulance service by 50%.
The Mayor also signed anordinance so that the ambulance
service couldn't use theirsirens in the downtown area.
The reason he gave that theyweren't allowed to use the
sirens was noise complaints.
So because they weren't allowedto use their sirens anymore, it
(18:27):
slowed them down and theyweren't able to transport their
patients to the hospital as fast, and they weren't able to even
get to the patients as fast.
And so the police were able toget to the patients before them.
And then, in 1974, the Mayorannounced plans for a citywide
ambulance service which wouldinclude police who were also
trained as paramedics.
Where did he get this idea from?
So the mayor had called in oneof the men who had worked for
(18:51):
the freedom house ambulanceservice and this young man who
worked for the ambulance service.
He thought like, oh my gosh,I'm getting called in by the
Mayor, I'm gonna be able toshare my ideas with him.
And so he took a proposal tohis meeting with the Mayor to
talk about you know how theycould expand the ambulance
service to more parts of thecity of Pittsburgh.
And so he goes into thismeeting with the Mayor and he
has his proposal, he presents itto the mayor and the mayor,
(19:12):
instead of talking about theproposal with him, talks about
how they can help with the noisethat the ambulances are making.
So he says you know, instead ofusing your siren, can you use
like a bell?
Just like stupid talk.
That didn't really matter.
But he he takes the proposalfrom this young man and he's
like I'm going to talk aboutthis with other people and we'll
get back to you about you knowhow we can expand this service.
(19:32):
Young man never hears back fromthe Mayor to help with the
expansion.
But the Mayor takes thisproposal and uses it as a way to
expand the ambulance servicewithin the city, steals his plan
Like we're not going tosugarcoat it.
That's exactly what the fuckthe mayor did.
So on October 15th 1975, theFreedom House Ambulance Service
closes and they start thisexpanded ambulance service in
(19:56):
the city.
Those who were hired for thisnew ambulance service were all
white.
There were some people from theambulance service who were
hired to help with this newexpanded city ambulance service.
However, the goal was to pushall of them out.
And so the different ways thatthose who had initially operated
the ambulance service, theblack men who were pushed out,
(20:17):
those who had a criminal record,were not rehired into this new
city's ambulance service.
They were given pass/ failexams on things that they were
not educated on, but the whiteparamedics were educated on.
And so they were all given thesame test, but with different
amounts of knowledge, and ifthey failed the exam they were
pushed out.
And then, for those who didn'thave criminal records and were
(20:38):
able to pass these pass/ failexams that they were not taught
on, they were assigned tonon-essential or non-medical
parts of this new city ambulance.
And a year later, of the 26Freedom House Ambulance members
who had joined this new cityordinance, only half of them
were still there.
And, mind you, of the people whowere there, like I said, they
were given non-essential ornon-medical positions within the
(21:00):
service, or they were beingoverseen by white people who
were not as experienced as them,which is just the never-ending
cycle of what it is like to be ablack person in america.
You're undermined, you provethat you are in fact, not
unemployable and you have skillsand you can use these skills to
better help your community.
(21:20):
They see that and they're likeI'm going to take this thing,
I'm going to push you out andI'm going to steal it from you,
white people, I want to pull myfucking hair out.
I want to pull my hair out.
This is what shaped theambulance service that we know,
not only in this country but inthe world, this ambulance
(21:40):
service that was created by Dr.
Peter Safar and then expandedupon.
I don't know if I mentionedthis earlier.
In 1974, Dr.
Nancy Caroline joined theFreedom House Ambulance Service
and she expanded on theparamedic training that these
black men had.
So she taught them about IVdrug administration, intubation,
cardiac care.
She helped them expand, youknow, the knowledge that they
(22:02):
already had, and this is what wesee today in our ambulance
service.
It is rooted in Dr Phil Safer,Dr.
Caroline and these 25 black menwho became the first
recruitment of paramedics forthe freedom house ambulance
service.
Without these men, we would nothave the ambulance service that
we know of today, and I thinkit's so important to give them
(22:22):
their flowers and to recognizethem, because this might not be
something that a lot of peopleknow, but it is just a testament
to the continued whitewashingand appropriation of black
people and our contributions tosociety.
There was no ambulance servicelike this anywhere before these
25 black men who operated theFreedom House Ambulance Service.
(22:43):
To all of them, I just want tosay thank you for your service
and for your contribution to notonly black history, but just
history in general.
This is something that wasliterally not a thing before.
They were recruited and trainedand operated the Freedom House
Ambulance Service, and theyshould be recognized for that.
We really are it like blackpeople are just it, and it's
just so overlooked, as it hasalways been, and so I just
(23:05):
wanted to bring more attentionto these 25 men who started the
ambulance service that we knowof today and that helps so many
people.
Okay, I'm done talking, um.
Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode.
I hope that it was educational.
Again, if there is arecommendation for someone that
we should talk about, DM me,email me, leave it in the
(23:25):
comments.
Um, I just want to shed morelight on these untold stories.
Thank you for for tuning intoday.
I hope everyone is having agood day, except for that orange
drink lady, and I will see youall in the next episode.
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
The Napkin in Between, byDaijné Jones, produced by Daijné
Jones, post-production byDaijné Jones, music by Sam
Champagne and graphics by IsmaVidal.
(23:48):
Don't forget to like andsubscribe.
See you next.
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