The Call to CPR

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John says he went home and looked through the yellow pages to find some sort of medical training class. "I was the only person who looked like me in the class" John's partner asked him if he had ever done CPR, so he started preparing for his first shift. He opened up bag valve mask and oxygen tubing before arriving on scene.

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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