Freedom House Ambulance Service Congressional Gold Medal Act

Key Points

• This bill would award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom House Ambulance Service. This group from Pittsburgh was the first in the country to use paramedics who were trained to give medical care on the way to the hospital, rather than just providing a ride.
• In the 1960s, ambulances were usually run by police or funeral homes and offered very little medical help. Freedom House changed this by training Black residents from Pittsburgh's Hill District to perform life-saving procedures like CPR and intubation in the streets.
• The program was created to provide jobs and medical care to a neighborhood struggling with poverty. While the service was shut down in 1975 due to political and racial tensions, their training methods became the blueprint for every modern ambulance service used in America today.
• If the bill passes, the gold medal will be displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Mint would also be allowed to sell bronze copies of the medal to the public to help pay for the program.

Impact Analysis

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