John Moon
John Moon was one of a pioneer group of predominantly African American Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) operating one of the nation’s most advanced ambulance services from the late 1960s to mid-1970s, who later became Assistant Chief of Emergency Medical Services for the City of Pittsburgh.
Born in Atlanta in 1949, Moon’s mother died in 1956. His father, unable to raise two children and still work full-time, took Moon and his sibling to live in an orphanage near the city where he visited them on weekends. His father, however, soon fell ill and died. In 1963, Moon moved to Pittsburgh’s Hill District to live with an aunt.
After graduating from Fifth Avenue High School, Moon started work in a Pittsburgh steel mill loading rail cars and operating a blast furnace. Unhappy with mill work, in 1969 Moon took a job as an orderly at Presbyterian Hospital. While working as an orderly he saw paramedics from Freedom House Ambulance Service bringing patients to the hospital. Freedom House, staffed by African American men and women from inner city areas of Pittsburgh, was a trailblazer in pre-hospital medical care. Freedom House trained paramedics in emergency medical services such as chest compression, rescue breathing and intubation and operated their ambulances as mobile treatment centers rather than just transportation. Upon learning what Freedom House did, Moon knew he wanted to be a part of it saying, “it felt like a calling.”
In 1971, Moon applied to join Freedom House but was first required to complete 300 hours of emergency medicine classes and hospital work in area emergency rooms. He began driving an ambulance and working as an EMT in 1972. Pittsburgh instituted its own modern ambulance service in 1975, ending its contract with Freedom House and taking over their services. Moon was one of the few black paramedics who were transferred over to the city ambulance service. He eventually rose to the rank of Assistant Chief of Emergency Medical Services.
As a Pittsburgh paramedic, Moon pushed for greater diversity in the ambulance service. He helped eliminate a requirement that training candidates have a sponsor, developed the Community College of Allegheny County as a trainer and supplier of new candidates, and helped launch an EMT training program under which recruits were paid while they trained for the paramedic certification thus increasing minority participation.
Moon filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city in 2007 alleging he was passed over for the Deputy Chief job and that promotions were race-based. As part of a 2009 settlement, he received $40,000 and agreed to retire that year.
After retirement, in 2014, Moon founded A&M Healthcare, a company providing personalized home health care services. He retired from A&M in 2020. Moon continues to mentor EMTs, volunteering with Freedom House 2.0, an organization which trains first responders from economically disadvantaged communities working towards completion of the state-approved emergency medical technician certificate.
