Bibliograph

American sirens, the incredible story of the Black men who became America's first paramedics, Kevin Hazzard

Type

Label

American sirens, the incredible story of the Black men who became America's first paramedics, Kevin Hazzard

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references

resource.biographical

collective biography

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

American sirens

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1291313033

Responsibility statement

Kevin Hazzard

Sub title

the incredible story of the Black men who became America's first paramedics

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"--, Provided by publisher

Classification