Freedom House Ambulance Service Congressional Gold Medal Act

This Act may be cited as the Freedom House Ambulance Service Congressional Gold Medal Act.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid.

(2) In the mid-1960s, before Freedom House was founded, ambulance service in the United States was typically provided by either the police or a local funeral home. These services offered little more than transportation and people were dying unnecessarily from treatable illnesses and injuries due to a stark lack of pre-hospital care.

(3) In 1965, Freedom House Enterprises was founded to provide economic stimulation to the people of Pittsburgh, specifically those in the predominantly Black Hill District, where a majority of the residents fell well below the poverty line. The goal of Freedom House Enterprises was to create job training and employment opportunities for area residents and to provide training and employment opportunities for those deemed unemployable by the city welfare offices.

(4) In 1965, Philip Hallen, President of the Maurice Falk Medical Fund, a former ambulance driver, and Chairman of the OEO Health Committee, envisioned a transformative model for emergency medical care that combined social justice with medical innovation. He collaborated with Morton Coleman from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Social Work, James McCoy, President of Freedom House Enterprises, Inc., and Dr. Peter Safar, known as the Father of CPR, Medical Director of Freedom House Ambulance, Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, to launch Freedom House Ambulance.

(5) The formal training curriculum was developed by Dr. Peter Safar and Gerald Esposito, integrating hospital rotations, field training, and clinical instruction. Dr. Nancy Caroline, who was later hired as medical director of Freedom House Ambulance, led the development of the first national paramedic textbook, Emergency Care in the Streets: A Manual for Paramedics, and served as an advisor to President Gerald Ford on emergency medical systems. Dr. Donald M. Benson was the service’s first medical advisor and played a key role in the program’s initial success.

(6) Robert J. Zepfel served as the dedicated director of Freedom House. Councilman Mitchell J. Brown, an original Freedom House paramedic and former military medic, operations director for Freedom House, hired and mentored future EMS leaders, such as retired Assistant Chief John Moon, recognized as the first non-physician to perform endotracheal intubation in the field, who is a preeminent advocate for Freedom House Ambulance and excellence in pre-hospital emergency care.

(7) Addie Johnson and Pearl Porter were the first women to complete training at Freedom House. Other known living members include Darnela Wilson, George McCary III, Larry Underwood, David Lindell, Bill Raynovich, William McDoodle, John Franklin, and Ruth Johnson, who continue to serve as custodians of the Freedom House legacy.

(8) Despite its proven success, Freedom House Ambulance was defunded in 1975 amid political opposition and racial tension. Nonetheless, its training model, clinical data, and innovations directly influenced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s EMS standards and the national adoption of advanced life-support ambulance systems.

(9) Freedom House Ambulance operated from Presbyterian-University Hospital, now known as UPMC Presbyterian, serving Pittsburgh’s Hill District and neighboring communities with professional, lifesaving pre-hospital care at a time when no comparable system existed. Freedom House empowered its trainees, many of whom were previously unemployed or underemployed, with professional certification and dignity in service, demonstrating that equitable access to education and opportunity strengthens both individuals and communities.

(10) Freedom House members consistently delivered superior medical outcomes and established the model for the modern paramedic system now recognized across the United States.

(11) The Freedom House Ambulance Service remains a cornerstone of American medical and civil rights history, representing courage, excellence, and the enduring power of community-driven innovation.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of Freedom House Ambulance Service, in recognition of its dedicated service to the Pittsburgh community and contributions to the field of emergency medical services.

For the purposes of the presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the Secretary) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

Following the award of the gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the National Museum of African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for display as appropriate and made available for research.

It is the sense of Congress that the National Museum of African American History and Culture should make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, particularly at other appropriate locations associated with the Freedom House Ambulance Service.

The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.

The medal struck pursuant to this Act is a national medal for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.

There is authorized to be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant to this Act.

The amounts received from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.