As much as we now depend on EMS and prehospital care, there was a time when such lifesaving services did not exist. The only responders—often police—had no medical training or equipment and would often place people in the back seat of a car and race them to the hospital. But this lack of formal prehospital care also meant that police would not serve every neighborhood equally. Communities of color were often left with no help at all during emergencies.
To fill that gap in equitable prehospital care, community activists and University of Pittsburgh physicians created Freedom House, a paramedic training and prehospital services program for underserved communities (for more details about the original Freedom House, visit https://www.pittmed.health.pitt.edu/Feb_2004/attending.pdf).
In a further effort to help the community, Freedom House specifically recruited people who were unemployed. From 1968-75, Freedom House became a thriving EMS service in the City of Pittsburgh, pioneering a model for many EMS programs across the country.
In 1975, the City of Pittsburgh ended its contract with Freedom House only to create its own EMS, which still exists. Despite the original Freedom House paramedics’ years of expertise in prehospital services, only some of them were hired for the new EMS program.
While the EMS system in Allegheny County has evolved dramatically in the past 50 years, it is ready for a transformation to meet the current demands of its patients. According to studies and discussions with providers and medical directors from across the country, the portion of modern EMS calls for true life- or limb-threatening medical emergencies is, at most, 20% of the call volume. Yet 100% of current training is focused on managing these medical emergencies.
The other 80% of calls to 911 represent emergencies of different natures; they are emergencies that are not likely to be resolved by taking the person to an emergency department. These calls represent a wide variety of other psychosocial needs, including poorly managed chronic medical and mental health conditions and myriad social-determinants-of-health concerns. Today’s EMS providers are not trained to assess or intervene with these kinds of needs.
In 2020, UPMC and UPMC Health Plan began Freedom House 2.0. With expertise from Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences’ Department of Emergency Medicine, the 10-week program includes cohorts of high-risk youths, people recently unemployed because of the COVID pandemic and other nontraditional students. They take part in an innovative curriculum that includes employment skills, an emergency medical technician (EMT) course, community paramedic and resiliency training. Successful graduates are guaranteed an interview with UPMC and other job placement support. As of this summer, two cohorts have graduated from the program
Another cohort will begin training in fall 2021.
GRADUATES—UPMC Health Plan recently held their second graduation ceremony for their Freedom House 2.0 training program. Both the training and ceremony took place at Hosanna House in Wilkinsburg and included a cohort of 10 students. Graduates pictured are, from top left: Lorin Demun, Jonathan Moss, Trevon Epps, Brandon McQuade, Kenneth Hickey; and bottom row, from left: Keivonne Williams, Rayquel Pack, Asia Strader, Deshay Allen, Khadiyjah Cook. The program allows individuals to jumpstart a health career in as little as 10 weeks and includes paid training and mentorship.
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