City EMT training program honors the Freedom House legacy
Anew initiative of the City of Pittsburgh to provide free emergency medical technician (EMT) training for city residents both honors Pittsburgh’s legacy of innovation in community health care and points toward a more equitable future. Pittsburgh EMS Bureau Chief Amera Gilchrist, the first Black woman to hold the position, is showing why she was the right choice for the job.
Besides training EMTs for the city’s emergency medical corps, the Freedom House EMT Academy can be an economic lifeline for struggling Pittsburgh neighborhoods, and lead to the diversification of the EMS Bureau — and possibly the Fire Bureau, as well.
The new Freedom House EMT Academy is named for the Freedom House Ambulance Service — the first emergency medical transport organization anywhere to be staffed by trained medics, which served the Hill District in the 1960s and 1970s. The very concept of medical care en route to the hospital, which people around the world now take for granted, was first practiced here.
Freedom House was staffed entirely by Pittsburgh’s Black community, and lasted eight years until the city swallowed it whole in 1975.
Today’s EMS Bureau employs two kinds of medical professionals: EMTs, who mostly assess and monitor patients, and paramedics, who have advanced training and can administer treatments. As in other public service positions, the city is struggling to recruit EMTs: Only half of 28 budgeted positions are filled. Meanwhile, about 150 of 172 paramedic slots are filled.
That’s in part because EMT pay only runs about $21 an hour, though a small bump is expected as part of EMS union negotiations. Paramedics start at $25 an hour and top out at $37 an hour in their fifth year.
The training academy will offer a free 12-week course resulting in EMT certification, removing the barrier of cost and making this career path available to more Pittsburghers. More than that, in keeping with other apprenticeship programs, the city will pay trainees $16 per hour.
The high stress and modest pay mean EMT is often only a starting point for a medical or public safety career — and that’s ok. The Freedom House Academy can serve two purposes: providing a pipeline of EMTs for the city, plus as an entrance point for a variety of careers, especially for people without the resources to access other opportunities.
One of those careers is in the Bureau of Fire. Pittsburgh’s professional firefighters require EMT training, and have a dismal diversity record: A recent performance audit from the City Controller’s Office revealed the force is literally 99% men, and nearly 90% white. The EMS Bureau is only marginally better: Another Controller’s audit pegged the numbers at about 80% male and 85% white.
With some foresight, city leaders can mold the Freedom House EMT Academy into a major workforce development program, bringing opportunity to underserved communities and diversity not just to EMS, but to public safety and medicine more generally. That would be a feat worthy of the legacy of the first Freedom House nearly 60 years ago.