[ID: A series of 9 tweets by twitter user JamieFord.
The first tweet says “Defund the police? Here’s an example that you’re benefitting from right now. 1/9”. It features a picture of the Freedom House Ambulance Services, the group discussed in this thread.
The second tweet says “Until the 70s, ambulance services were generally run by local police and fire departments. There was no law requiring medical training beyond basic first-aid and in many cases the assignment of ambulance duty was used as a form of punishment. 2/9.”
The third tweet says “As you can imagine, throwing people with medical emergencies in the back of a paddy wagon produced less-than-spectacular health outcomes. Now imagine how much worse it became when disgruntled white police officers were demoted to ambulance duty in black neighborhoods. 3/9.” It shows a picture of one of the police cars used for ambulances, which resembles modern police cars though with the style of older cars, and says “paddy wagon” on it.
The fourth tweet says “The response was so problematic that, in 1967, black leaders in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, created Freedom House Ambulance Services, and approached Peter Safar, a doctor at the University of Pittsburgh who had lost his 12 year old daughter to an acute asthma crisis. 4/9.” It shows a picture of the members of the FHAS standing together with Peter Safar.
The fifth tweet says “With a shared purpose of improving emergency response services, Safar trained 25 black men from that neglected community– many of whom did not have a high school diploma– as emergency medical technicians trained in this new skill called ‘CPR’. 5/9.” It shows a picture of a few FHAS members standing at the back of one of their ambulances.
The sixth tweet says “With two donated police vehicles, Freedom House Ambulance Services began to save lives at such a rate, that they became the gold standard for emergency response training in the US and the model for EMTs we now take for granted in every community. 6/9.”
The seventh tweet says “Freedom House paramedics were so dynamic in their ability to respond to the critically ill that the Pittsburgh Police often called them for high-acuity cases in white neighborhoods. 7/9.” It shows a picture of FHAS responders helping a white patient.
The eighth tweet says “Despite the success of FHAS, police and fire departments resisted retraining their personnel, so the city reallocated funds to create a separate EMT service. (A new mayor cut funding to FHAS in 1975 and seized their assets, but that’s another story). 8/9.”
The final tweet says “When people think defunding the police will lead to anarchy, they’re not understanding that change rarely happens from within, and that resources reallocated to community-based services can not only improve neglected neighborhoods, but create innovations that help us all. 9/9.”
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