Hazzard has written an engaging true story of the people who served as the first trained paramedics in the world. Dr. Peter Safar, who also pioneered lifesaving CPR techniques, found that trained civilians could outperforme police officers or funeral directors who commonly transported patients to the hospital. So Safar designed a rigorous training program, consisting of classroom and practical experience, and trained black men from a poor neighborhood in Pittsburgh how to save lives en route to the hospital. These men battled racism on all fronts, but their skill led to them serving as the nationwide model for paramedic training. Their story needs to be told.

I don't know if I can wax rhapsodic enough to do this book justice, but I'm going to try.

Firstly, this was a Buddy Read and my fellow Buddy Reader read this in less than a week. It took me seven months. I had to keep putting it down because it was SO well written, I was too emotionally tied up with what the people in the book were going through. (Sorry Buddy, but I DID finish it at least?)

This is a true story and it is written INCREDIBLY well. The reader is 100% immersed in the lives being described.

And what they went through was UGLY. Racism, systematic and brutal. To the literal detriment of the lives of everyone who needed emergency medical services in Pittsburgh PA during the 1960-70s. The mayor from that time period has a special circle in hell waiting for him, I have very little doubt.

And before Freedom House was started, what passed for "emergency medical services" was so horrible, I felt physically ill and 100% thankful that Freedom House came and that Safar, Nancy and the rest created the foundation and backbone of what is used today. The men and women of Freedom House have literally saved so many lives as to be uncountable with what they did.

This book made me so angry and sad and thankful; I was riding the Feels Rollercoaster every time I picked it up. It is in my humble opinion that this book should be on the reading list of every adult, to understand where our modern EMS has come from and to honor the men and women who made it possible.

I know a paramedic through work and he is very proud of what he does. After reading this book, I don't blame him. Every paramedic deserves a medal for what they do, every day. At the very least, they deserve thanks.

So thank you Kevin Hazzard for making the story of Freedom House more accessible to the public and for being a paramedic yourself.

Thank you to every single paramedic out there, for doing what you do, day in, day out, to save the lives that wouldn't be saved without you.

5, the people of Freedom House were so amazing you need to read about them, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I really thought this book would be amazing. I work in healthcare and was an EMT for a while before moving out of direct patient care. I feel like the preface of this book didn't really fit with the rest of the book. And I didn't care for how the book would jump around in the timeline and not really tell you where and when you were; expecting you to figure it out on your own. I often felt in places that the book veered off on several tangents that weren't relative to the topic of the book - although enlightening about social issues occurring during the same time period. All around, the book was well researched and well written. A quick and informative read.

nonfiction, historical-places-events, history, history-and-culture, Black African American-history, 20th-century-medical-history, trauma, PTSD, paramedics, biographies*****

Couldn't be totally clueless about the matters exposed in this book as I am a retired RN (class of 1968) who worked the inner city in hospital and jails until 2011.
This documentary exposes the depth of profiling and discrimination with its inevitable results and especially as evidenced in medical care. It also exposes the kind of class distinctions prevalent in the medical community which has lessened a bit over the years. The reader is immersed in a few important biographies as well as the origin and development of the trauma care system now existent in cities and some rural areas. Everyone needs to experience this book!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book copy from Hachette Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
Then I bought the audio. Gilbert Glenn Brown is the perfect voice actor for this narration

History would have us believe that Black people were just servants or even worse poor in without want to prosper. There was even a time and American history where some people even convince their self that Black people enjoyed being slaves. It is books like this American Sirens by Kevin Hazard, that will slowly but surely build a more factual African American history and unfortunately I’m sure stories like these still surprise some Americans. Having said that this Book is about how two African Americans and an Austrian created the first trained paramedics in America. The ambulance service was created in New York in the 1800s but they weren’t trained medical people on board with the exception of an intern if he was available. What the doctor and Mr. moon did was create a service that would sweep the world in scope in forever change how we respond to emergencies. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I’m so glad I got to read it and certainly think it’s worth five stars. This book reads like fiction but it is totally a true account of the creation of the paramedic services in America. I received this book from net galley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Really enjoyed this book! It's written in a narrative nonfiction style and told several stories that all fold into how Freedom House (and the role of the modern paramedic) rose and then unfortunately due to local government fell. I've added Hazzard's memoir, A Thousand Naked Strangers to my list for Nonfiction November. Looking forward to more stories from the streets.

I am so glad I read this book, this is a story that needs to be told and heard! I’ve picked up multiple books in the last two months covering the time period off the civil rights movement and have learned SO much. This book covered the history of the first paramedic ambulance service in the US- and initially, all of the members were African American. I really appreciated all of the background on what life what like for African Americans growing up in the US at this time, especially in major cities and slums. It covered the sobering topic of urban renewal, when white city leaders would claim they intended to knock down the slums to build better affordable housing and create jobs- but instead they destroyed all of the housing and put up stadiums and shopping malls and never created additional housing, forcing already poor families to be packed into tighter areas.

I also was pretty stunned to learn how recently ambulances had skilled medical professionals on board. Freedom House was the first ambulance service in the US in 1967 to have staff trained beyond just simple first aid. Until that point, if you called for an ambulance you would get police officers or staff from the MORGUE who would stuff you in the back of the ambulance as fast as possible and then leave you unattended in the back until they dumped you at the local hospital. Needless to say, there were significant numbers of preventable deaths or injuries that occurred prior to establishing paramedics in ambulances. I was even more surprised to see how resistant the government was to making this change despite ample evidence that paramedics were needed.

The most shocking part of this story to me as a medical professional was the discussion of how rescue breathing and CPR was proven to be an evidence-based technique. Prior to the establishment of CPR as a standard for cardiac or respiratory arrest, the two techniques for ventilating a patient not breathing were to lay them on their back and raise their arms over their head and then press on their chest, or to lay them face down with their head turned to the side. Yup, that’s it. Peter Safar is one of the “fathers” of modern CPR and was also the man who established the first paramedic program, Freedom House. To prove that rescue breathing worked, he found a bunch of volunteers who agreed to be sedated and paralyzed and rescue breaths were given to them by a group of boy scouts who had been taught the method right before the experiment. Wild!!!

This was an excellent read and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in prehospital or emergency medicine!

This is the story of the beginning of organized EMS, specifically the 1st Paramedic crews on dedicated ambulances that operated out of the station 'Freedom House', which began in Pittsburgh in the late 1960's. These early crews modeled the Fed. Standard for EMT & Paramedic training, equipment, standards, & procedures that are still used today. The book also talks about Dr Peter Safar, who might be known as 'the father of CPR & EMS' & is 'more or less the inventor of the ICU', providing the impetus & education for this new field.......& also gives the history of the Resusci Anne doll that we've all probably learned CPR on! The book's title is wholly appropriate.
I really liked this book, & it actually probably deserves a 5 star rating for the wealth of history & information that it contains.......& it's so very easily read too.....easily read non-fiction is a fun way to learn!
I received an e-ARC from Hachette Books via NetGalley for review. These are my own opinions.

American Sirens tells the history of the Black men who made up Freedom House, the first paramedic group in America. It’s amazing how effective the service was while battling finding funding, developing effective training, and a mayor that did his best to get rid of the service. I was vaguely aware of Freedom House going into this book and I learned so much more about the group as well as how awful ambulance services were before the 1970s. Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Books for the e-ARC.

Growing up watching “Emergency!”, paramedics seemed the norm in critical, emergency medical care. Kevin Hazzard’s “American Sirens” will turn that perception on its ear. He deftly tells the story of Freedom House, America’s first paramedic service. His writing is crisp, gripping, and draws you into this true story of the Black men who manned this service. Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for the opportunity to preview this book. #americansirens #netgalley #hachettebooks

This was fascinating! But also felt about 75-100 pages too long. I think the real goal was to show how all of these outsiders came together and built something that truly changed the world. But it was billed as a story about the African American people that answered the call and it felt like they were more of a footnote then I would have liked! Absolutely fascinating story that I had no idea about!