Prior to the mid 1960s, ambulance service in the US was typically provided by either the police or a local funeral home.
Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid. Founded in 1967, the service served a predominantly African American district in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and staffed entirely by African Americans. The district was poorly served by city government; medical transport was often denied.
Freedom House Ambulance Service broke barriers by training its personnel to perform previously unheard-of standards of emergency care - advanced life-giving measures - to patients on the way to hospitals. The service was founded by the Freedom House Enterprise Corporation, a civil rights organization that offered job training and assistance to the Black community.
The paramedic training and ambulance design standards pioneered by the service set the standard for emergency care nationally and internationally. Despite its successful eight year run, the service closed when the city of Pittsburg took it over.
Sources: Blackpast.org; Healthforce.ucsf.edu; Wikipedia.org
