The Rise and Fall of the Ambulance Service

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During the Civil War, a wagon force was created sometimes with a doctor on board to get injured soldiers off the battlefield. After the war, Bellevue Hospital in New York began to send doctors out and horse-drawn wagons. Kevin Hazard says there had been some attempts at an ambulance service.

As recently as 1965, if you had a medical emergency, the people who showed up at your door would be volunteer firefighters, police officers, or undertakers with a hearse. Today, the story of how a group of Black men from Pittsburgh changed that.

Kevin Hazzard’s book is American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics.

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Artwork by Julienne Alexander.

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