Research Catalog
American sirens : the incredible story of the Black men who became America's first paramedics
- Title
- American sirens : the incredible story of the Black men who became America's first paramedics / Kevin Hazzard.
- Author
- Hazzard, Kevin, 1977-
- Publication
- New York : Hachette Books, 2022.
- ©2022
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | Sc E 23-139 | Schomburg Center - Research & Reference |
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Details
- Description
- xviii, 316 pages; 24 cm
- Summary
- "Up until 1968, if you suffered a medical crisis, your chances of survival were minimal. That all changed with the 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 legacy erased--until now. Born from the vision of a Nobel Prize-nominated physician, the needs of a country in pain, and the ashes of Pittsburgh's downturn in the 1960s, Freedom House brought together a group of young, uneducated Black men to forge a new frontier in health care. Their job was grueling, the rules made up as they went along, and their mandate nearly impossible: prove to a skeptical public and the politicians that paramedics were a noble and valuable endeavor and, most importantly, that they themselves were worthy professionals performing a crucial public service. Despite the long odds and attempts to shut them down, they succeeded spectacularly. In American Sirens, acclaimed journalist and paramedic Kevin Hazzard tells a dramatic story of heroes and villains, of brutal attempts to stifle hope, and the resilience of a community that fought back. 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 young doctor who turned a scrappy team into an international leader. At every turn they battled racism--from the community, the police, and the government. 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"--
- Subject
- Freedom House Ambulance Service (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- 1900-1999
- Emergency medical technicians > Pittsburgh > Biography
- Ambulance service > Pittsburgh > History > 20th century
- African American physicians > Biography
- Ambulance service
- Emergency medical technicians
- African American physicians
- Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh
- United States
- Genre/Form
- Biographies.
- History.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-316).
- Call Number
- Sc E 23-139
- ISBN
- 9780306926075
- 0306926075
- LCCN
- 2022006917
- OCLC
- 1291313033
- 1291313033
- Author
- Hazzard, Kevin, 1977- author.
- Title
- American sirens : the incredible story of the Black men who became America's first paramedics / Kevin Hazzard.
- Publisher
- New York : Hachette Books, 2022.
- Copyright Date
- ©2022
- Edition
- First edition.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-316).
- Local Note
- Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
- Chronological Term
- 1900-1999
- Research Call Number
- Sc E 23-139