美国国家公共电台 NPR--How working-class Black men in Pittsburgh pioneered emergency medicine

How working-class Black men in Pittsburgh pioneered emergency medicine

Transcript¹

Freedom House was Pittsburgh's first professional ambulance service, and likely the first anywhere. The first paramedics were a group of Black men from the city's historic Hill District.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to turn now to a story about how a group of working-class Black men from Pittsburgh came together to create a new system of emergency care by giving paramedics more responsibility than just driving people to the ER. Here's Bill O'Driscoll of member station WESA.

JOHN MOON: This particular area right here is where I had my very first heroin² overdose.

BILL O'DRISCOLL, BYLINE³: John Moon (ph) is driving around Pittsburgh's historic Hill District, recalling his days as a paramedic for Freedom House Ambulance Service some 50 years ago. He wore a white uniform and rode in an ambulance like a big, white station wagon⁴.

MOON: It was in the basement of the structure itself. There was no lighting⁵ there. There were people there and lying around with candles lit. There were no utilities in the building at all. And we had to go in and actually treat the individual that had overdosed on heroin.

O'DRISCOLL: Moon is matter-of-fact about his accomplishments⁶, but experts say what several dozen Freedom House employees did in Pittsburgh starting in 1967 was historic. Dr. Ronald Stewart is former medical director for Pittsburgh's Public Safety Department.

RONALD STEWART: They actually were the first paramedic units in the United States doing what we now know as paramedic work.

O'DRISCOLL: Remember, this was at the dawn of emergency medicine. Ambulances existed. But if you were a victim of a heart attack, gunshot or car crash, no one treated you on sight. The only goal was to race you to the hospital. Ambulance drivers were just that - drivers.

KEVIN HAZARD: You might be picked up by the police in a wagon. You might be picked up by volunteer firefighters. Or you might be picked up by two undertakers from the local mortuary.

O'DRISCOLL: That's Kevin Hazard, author of a new book about Freedom House called "American Sirens." He writes, Freedom House was born when a local public health expert and a neighborhood job training entrepreneur teamed with Dr. Peter Safar, a famed University of Pittsburgh anesthesiologist who had a plan to do street medicine but no way to bring it to life. They recruited their medics from the Hill District, a majority-Black neighborhood where jobs and medical care were scarce. John Moon was a hospital orderly when he began paramedic training.

MOON: We were considered the least likely to succeed by society's standards. But one problem I noticed is that no one told us that.

O'DRISCOLL: Freedom House served only the Hill and a couple adjacent neighborhoods. Hazard says the program was wildly successful, saving lives that would have been lost before. Moon says he believes that on one call, he became the first paramedic ever to intubate a patient in the field.

MOON: It was something that had never been done, and we were the proving ground to show that you can do it.

O'DRISCOLL: Freedom House operated under a city contract and became a model for paramedic units launching elsewhere. But at home, there was trouble. Pittsburgh's mayor began withholding⁷ support. Hazard says the mostly Black Freedom House medics were seen as invading the turf of the mostly white police force.

HAZARD: There are many within Freedom House who eventually came to the conclusion that the problems that we're having with City Hall are not what we're doing but rather who's doing it.

O'DRISCOLL: In 1975, Freedom House was absorbed into a new citywide EMS bureau. Freedom House medics say they were treated badly there, their years of experience discounted, and many left. Moon persisted. He retired⁸ in 2009 as assistant chief. But today, standing⁹ on the streets he once patrolled, he fears Freedom House's story has been swept under the rug.

MOON: Unfortunately, even today, there are probably people that live here that had never heard of Freedom House Ambulance Service.

O'DRISCOLL: But Moon knows what he and his colleagues did.

MOON: And that's the beauty of what we were able to accomplish, primarily because no one thought we could do what we did but us.

O'DRISCOLL: Their legacy¹⁰ survives in any ambulance siren you hear today.

For NPR News, I'm Bill O'Driscoll.

(SOUNDBITE OF TAYLOR MCFERRIN'S "POSTPARTUM")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

5 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

6 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。