All Things Health and Wellness

Contributed By: Samuel Momodu

Freedom House Ambulance Service (Detre Library Archives)

The Freedom House Ambulance Service was an emergency medical service (EMS) founded in 1967 to provide medical services to the predominantly African American Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The service was staffed entirely by African Americans. The Freedom House Ambulance Service was also the first EMS in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond first aid.

Prior to the Freedom House Ambulance Service, emergency transportation in Pittsburgh was often provided by the police or a local funeral home. The wait times for those needing transport were especially longer in the Hill District.

The Freedom House Ambulance Service was established in 1967 by Phil Hallen, a former ambulance driver and head of the Maurice Falk Fund, a grant-giving foundation for economics, education, medicine, and social welfare established by Maurice Falk in 1929, and Peter Safar, an Austrian anesthesiologist who is credited with pioneering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Both saw the need for a service for the Hill District. Hallen contacted Freedom House Enterprises to help recruit paramedics for the new ambulance service. Twenty-five Black men were recruited from the Hill District for ambulance training. Most of these recruits were unemployed. Some were Vietnam Veterans, but some had not graduated from high school and others had criminal records. Safar designed the paramedics training, which included a 32-week 300-hour course on anatomy, physiology, CPR, advanced first aid, nursing, and defensive driving.

After receiving their training, the Freedom House paramedics began working following the Martin Luther King Assassination riots in Pittsburgh in April 1968. During their first year of operation, the Freedom House Ambulance Service responded to nearly 5,800 calls and transported more than 4,600 patients, primary in African American neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. According to data collected by Safar, the paramedics saved 200 lives in their first year of operations.
During a deadly surge in heroin use in the city in 1973, Freedom House paramedics were able to contact local drug dealers about user overdoses. They promised to provide medical assistance without legal repercussions for those who sold or used the drugs. This resulted in a drop in fatal overdoses in the city. The ambulance model designed by Safer and used by the Freedom House paramedics was adopted in 1975 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as the official ambulance standard for the United States.

Despite their successes, the Freedom House paramedics faced racism from hospital staff and patients. White patients would sometimes refuse to be helped by them. They also faced discrimination from the Pittsburgh city government and the then mayor, Peter F. Flaherty. When the Freedom House Ambulance Service requested an extension of their contract to provide medical care in other parts of the city, he refused. In 1974, Flaherty announced a citywide ambulance service to be staffed by non-police paramedics that became the Pittsburgh Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (PEMS). A year later, on October 15, 1975, the Freedom House Ambulance Service closed. By the late 1990s, 98% of the PEMS in the city of Pittsburgh were white.

References

Momodu, S (1972). Smithsonian. The Freedom House Ambulance.

Fort, M. (2023). University of Pittsburg. HSLR.

Freedom House Ambulance Service of Pittsburgh – Making Medical History

Introducing Daniel Hale, MD, was born in Pennsylvania on January 18,1856, and died on August 4, 1931.

“Williams established his own private practice after graduating in 1883, but he had to perform care — including surgeries — on patients inside their homes, as hospitals at that point largely did not allow Black doctors to practice in their facilities” (Zakarin, 2021).

“The Jackson State Scholars Program is named after Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1858-1931) who was:

• The first African American cardiologist who performed the first successful open-heart surgery
• Founded the first interracial hospital, Provident Hospital and Training School
• Created two hospital-based training programs for nursing
• Co-founded the National Medical Association
• The first African American physician admitted to the American College of Surgeons
• Dr. Williams’s work and advocacy for African Americans presence in medicine is honored by educational institutions worldwide”. (Jackson State, University, 2023)

References;

Jackson State University, (2023) https://www.jsums.edu/gtec/dr-daniel-hale-williams/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Daniel_Hale_Williams.aspx

https://www.biography.com/scientist/daniel-hale-william

http://provfound.org/index.php/history/history-dr-daniel-hale-william

Zakarin. J. (2021). Daniel Hale Williams Performed the First Successful Open Heart Surgery During an Emergency Procedure . https://www.biography.com/history-culture/daniel-hale-williams-first-open-heart-surgery-story

Nancy Leftenant Colon: army nurse dies at the age of 104.

A granddaughter of enslaved people, Nancy Leftenant-Conlon became the first Black nurse to serve in the regular U.S. armed forces in 1948 (Risen, 2025). Ms. Leftenant-Colon died on Jan. 8 in Amityville, N.Y., on Long Island, at 104. (Risen, 2025)

Nurse Leftenant-Colon joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in February 1948. Risen (2025) states this was several months before President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order desegregating the armed forces. It was a seven-year struggle to rise through the ranks. (Risen, 2025).

For more information see the links below.

Black history is American History!

References:

Risen, C. (2025). Nancy Leftenant-Colon, 104, Dies; Army Nurse Broke a Color Barrier. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/obituaries/nancy-leftenant-colon-dead.html.

Thompson, C. (2025). First Black woman to serve in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after desegregation dies. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/15/g-s1-42698/nancy-leftenant-colon-military-army-tuskegee-obituary

On January 28, 2025, the president signed executive orders to cut off critical funding for programs that affected millions. The president is very disturbed over diversity programs. He has called for all institutions that use diversity and inclusion criteria for admission or hiring to disband them. In the meantime, the president’s cabinet nominees have no experience in the positions they were picked to lead. Seems hypocritical. The ignorance displayed by the nominees is embarrassing. Surely he did this on purpose, knowing these individuals would put the agency in disarray leading to its demise.

Remember that executive orders are not laws and can be challenged in court. I called my senators on the 5 Calls App (https://5calls.org/). The purpose of the call was to express my opinion. They were no longer taking calls from the public. The white house switchboard is also not taking calls.

It seems the new administration does not care what the public thinks about their decisions.

This is not the time to put your head in the sand. The administration has been diligently trying to change how the government does business without Congressional input. These changes are listed in the Project 2025 playbook and should be no surprise. Trump claimed he knew nothing about the 2025 project. Last week the president signed an executive order to ban birthright citizenship for those children whose parents are not citizens. This guarantee is documented in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Brush up on civics so you are aware of what is going on. Congress controls the purse strings in this democratic government, not the president. Democracy can be lost, if we are not paying attention.

Make your voices heard and use the 5-calls app (https://5calls.org/) to call your congressperson and let them know how you feel. As far as I know, we still have a democracy and you do have a say.

References

5 Calls App: https://5calls.org/

NPR Staff. (2025). All the executive orders Trump has signed after 1 week in office.https://www.npr.org/2025/01/28/nx-s1-5276293/trump-executive-orders

WSJ. (2025). A List of Trumps Key Executive Orders- So Far https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-inauguration-president-202

The holidays can be stressful if you do not put your task in perspective. This holiday season has brought extra stress for me. Besides the regular holiday stressors, like shopping, cooking, mailing cards and gifts. I have been gifted with 5 puppies. There were eleven at first and slowly they transitioned. So you can imagine the shock and dismay of this event. I am so grateful they were born a few days before Thanksgiving.

There are a few things I have implemented in the past few weeks to bundle my tasks together. I prepared my meals in stages and asked for assistance. The complex dishes were prepared several days before the holidays. The day of the event I baked pies. The ingredients had already been assembled, days earlier.

Some of you have been shopping all year for your family and friends and have that completed. I am not that organized. This year, I can proudly say I finished my shopping early and got the items mailed this week.

Do what you can to reduce your stress. Enjoy your friends and family during this holiday season. So, ask for help, life is short but it can be sweet.

Enjoy the holidays and Happy New Year.

How in tune are you with your body? Your body signals you when it is out of balance, by giving you warnings. Most of us do not listen. Recently I was experiencing increase dry lips and they became discolored. I have never had these symptoms and decided to investigate.

After a thorough investigation, with the assistance of my primary care physician. I determined I needed to change my diet. I also needed to reduce my sugar intake. I added weights to my exercise plan. I wanted to make sure I was doing everything to enhance my personal health and wellness.

Once you start noticing changes in your body, see your physician for a checkup. Most of us wait too long before we go to the doctor. We think the issue will be corrected even though we have not done our part to change the contributing factor. Many issues related to health are a result of the processed food we continue to consume.

Take control of your health and listen to your body so you can stay healthy and well. Just keeping your informed.

Losing a friend or family member to suicide can be devastating. You feel helpless and wonder why you did not see any signs to alert you. Below are some warning signs that you may not have thought were associated with individuals ha.

Talking about wanting to die or kill oneself,

Talking about feeling, empty and have no reason to live.

Talking about feeling trapped, and not having a solution

Feeling unbearable emotional or physical pain.

Talking about being a burden to others.

Giving away important possessions.

Saying good-bye to family and friends.

Putting affairs in order, making a will, or arranging finance.

Taking risk, driving to fast or using drugs or alcohol more frequently.

Display of extreme mood swings.

Making plans to acquire lethal weapons, stockpiling pills or purchasing a gun.

Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge.

If these warning signs apply to you or someone you know, ask for help,

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 
Call or text 988
Chat at 988lifeline.org

Crisis Text Line 
Text “HELLO” to 741741

Warning Signs of Suicide. (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/warning-signs-of-suicide

August is national wellness month and a great time to focus on your personal health and wellness. It can be challenging to keep up routine, especially if you don’t particularly dislike exercising. Think of all the benefits.

Get a physical before you start your exercise routine, especially if you have never been one who exercises regularly.

I suggest you find an activity that you enjoy. Hopefully, you will be willing to put the time in to exercise. These activities becomes more important as we age, for obvious reasons. Exercise is also good for your mental health.

Just keeping you informed.