Season 1 of has already been renewed for season 2 by Max, the streamer clearly realizing there's an appetite for a hospital drama that isn't focused on melodrama and romantic entanglements, but on realistic medical scenarios.

The Pitt episode 8, that dedication to honoring history educates viewers about a little-known but crucial era in American history: the Freedom House Ambulance Service.

Before Freedom House Ambulance Service, Emergency Medical Care Was Inadequate

Medics Only istered Basic First Aid & There Were No Proper Ambulances

9-1-1 and the EMS service seem like they've been around for so long that people take it for granted now. It's hard to imagine a time when it didn't exist, and for many of us, it always has in our lifetimes. Yet, 9-1-1 has only been around since 1968 as an emergency number used across the entirety of the country. A decade earlier, in 1957, the National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended one nationwide number to be used, but it wasn't until 1967 that then-President Lyndon B. Johnson established a commission to make it happen (via NENA). Even then, though, the emergency services provided were often wholly inadequate.

Enter the Freedom House Ambulance Service. Established in Pittsburgh in 1967, Freedom House was the first emergency medical service in the United States that provided true emergency medicine in crisis situations, training its paramedics in ways that went beyond the basic first aid of the time. Previously, there really was no proper EMS; ambulance services were provided by cops in the city or the morgue in the suburbs. Patients, some in need of critical care, were simply loaded into police vans or morgue wagons and rushed to the hospital, and, in rural parts of Western PA, they often died with no nearby hospitals. As a result of a lack of medical training by the paramedics, countless people died who might have been saved had there been greater medical intervention.

Freedom House Ambulance Service Established The First Modern Paramedics

It Was A Groundbreaking EMS Program

Freedom House completely reinvented the emergency response by training its medics to a far higher level than had ever been done before, enabling its paramedics to ister life-saving treatments to patients en route to the hospital. It also established the first proper ambulances, a fleet of emergency vehicles that were far better equipped to carry out life-saving first aid and pre-hospital assessment and treatment than the police paddy wagons or morgue vans. Under Dr. Peter Safar's guidance, those recruits who hadn't completed high school got their GEDs, and they were all trained in everything from R to defensive driving and from anatomy to advanced first aid. When Dr. Nancy Caroline became the medical director of Freedom House in 1974, she added a curriculum for the paramedics that included IV intubation, cardiac care, and intubation.

It was wildly successful, with Freedom House's paramedics responding to almost 5,800 emergency calls in 1968, its first year of operation, ranging from mild injuries to critical cases. Working with just two ambulances of its own in that first year, Freedom House paramedics saved the lives of 200 of those critically ill or injured people who otherwise would have died. Despite the struggles they faced to be taken seriously at first, Freedom House Ambulance Service was so successful that its fleet of ambulances quickly grew, and its paramedics were invited to speak to and train medical personnel in America and even other countries so they could copy what Freedom House was doing (via 99 Percent Invisible).

Freedom House Ambulance Service Is An Important Part Of Black History

Freedom House Was Progressive & Innovated Care For The Black Pittsburgh Community

Freedom House Ambulance Service's success was even more remarkable considering it was staffed entirely by Black men and predominantly served the African American community of the Hill District of Pittsburgh, and, as such, it's an important part of Black history in America. Dr. Peter Safar, an Austrian-American anesthesiologist and the pioneer of modern R, and Phil Hallen, a former ambulance driver and the overseer of the Maurice Falk Fund, worked together with the nonprofit civil rights organization Freedom House to establish the ambulance service, but they made a point to employ and train Black Pittsburghers as paramedics.

The early recruits were taken from the Hill District, an area that had once been prosperous, with a Negro League ball club and famous jazz clubs, but had since been written off by many as a lost cause. The men recruited and trained by Safar included those who were unemployed, who hadn't finished high school, men with criminal records, and Vietnam War vets looking for purpose (via JEMS). They underwent a battery of psychological exams, testing, and training to be field-ready, and they delivered.

Even with their training, the Freedom House Ambulance drivers battled against prejudice, racism, and people simply not understanding what they were doing.

Even with their training, however, the Freedom House Ambulance drivers battled against prejudice, racism, and people simply not understanding what they were doing, even into the 1970s. Many people had never seen paramedics before - largely because Freedom House had pioneered the concept. They weren't doctors or nurses, but something else entirely, and they were often not taken seriously by others in the medical field. That they were young Black men added an extra layer of problems. Local Pittsburgh police often refused to send the Freedom House paramedics, even when they were requested, resentful of the ambulance service for taking away what they felt were aspects of their job as cops.

Despite that, Freedom House Ambulance Service prospered, and the reputation of these new "paramedics" started to grow throughout the city. The African American and Black residents of the Hill District started calling Freedom House directly, fearing to call the police lest they be thrown in jail or roughed up. Freedom House responded, and their level of care made them renowned throughout the city of Pittsburgh as they got their patients to the hospital faster than the cops and had better outcomes.

Freedom House Ambulance Service Became A Victim Of Its Own Success – And Racism

Outside Backlash & Racism Undermined The Freedom House Program

By 1975, however, Freedom House Ambulance Service had become a victim of its own success. Residents in more well-to-do white neighborhoods wondered why they weren't getting the same level of care as the residents in the Black neighborhoods. Then-Pittsburgh mayor Pete Flaherty disliked the increasing pressure he was getting for this and was also increasingly irritated that Freedom House Ambulance wasn't under the city government's control.

When the new service was rolled out, not a single one of the city's new paramedic recruits was Black.

After years of cutting funding and throwing up other roadblocks to hinder Freedom House's efficiency, Flaherty struck the final blow in 1975. After requesting Dr. Caroline write a standardized curriculum for EMS recruits, Flaherty then announced the city of Pittsburgh would be introducing its own paramedic service modeled on her work, effectively putting Freedom House out of business. Unsurprisingly, Flaherty lavished funds on the new, city-operated EMS service after denying funds to Freedom House for years. When the new service was rolled out, not a single one of the city's new paramedic recruits was Black. With Freedom House effectively being erased from history, it was wonderful to see The Pitt highlight its history and honor America's first proper paramedics, giving them the respect they've long deserved.

New episodes of The Pitt air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Max.

Sources: NENA, 99 Percent Invisible, JEMS