Freedom House by Darrell Van Mastrigt
Medium: Acrylic on canvas primed cloth
Dimensions: 16 x 22
Artist Statement: Freedom House Enterprise, Inc. Ambulance Service, First Day June 16, 1986 / Left to Right: Mr. Streams, Mr. Davis, Mr. Zepfel, Mr. Ragin, Mr. Clemens, Miss Johnson, Mr. McCoy, Mr. Esposito, Don M. Benson, M.D, Mr. Draper, Mr. Scott / Standing at Ambulance Entrance, Presbyterian University Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ever since the time when more than two human beings got together, a design fell into place that divided the haves and have-nots. l'm sure there is some survival instinct involved that creates the desire in us to make such designs. Those that have (food, power, wealth, land, resources, etc) make designs to keep it. Such designs often create an indifference to the have-nots at the least, or a deliberate intent to keep said resources from those who still do not have them at its worst. Such designs tend to spread across the spectrum of all activities in human life, including death. When medical emergencies inevitably come up, the well-to-do wealthier community members always had access to better resources putting themselves in a better position to get help. The design, as it was at the time, meant they had a better chance at getting helpfrom. other people.with...resources. Emergency responses in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was fragmented and often inadequate well into the 1960s. typically relied on police or morticians for emergency transportation, which provided minimum medical assistance. This design was particularly detrimental to Black and low income communities, where police response times were often slow or non-existent, and residents faced significant barriers to accessing timely medical care. Residents Some say this is proof of an intentional design to help and save a certain class or category of people and not help or save another. In essence, the design could be viewed as an attempt to isolate a group of people as "other" and thereby allow our sense of humanity not to be offended when they did not receive help or died. Whether such a design was intentional or not, people in Pittsburgh's low-income communities, particularly the Hill District, were being denied emergency medical services. In 1967, a group of people, staffed primarily by Black paramedics and determined to address the disparities in emergency care that existed at the time, found a way to Defy the Design. Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to provide professionally trained pre-hospital emergency care. Freedom House started providing services on June 16, 1968. Mr. Streams, Mr. Davis, Mr. Zepfel, Mr. Ragin, Mr. Clemens, Miss Johnson, Mr. McCoy, Mr. Esposito, Don W. Benson, M.D., Mr. Draper and Mr. Scott (seen in the painting from left to right) didn't merely defy the design, they shattered the design entirely and created a whole new design to take its place. The new design they 'created to fix disparities was so effective it was soon adopted by the rest of the Pittsburgh region a few years later. The depicted pioneers in this painting are true heroes for the work and dedication they gave to defy a broken design, change that design to help all of us, and save the lives of untold numbers of people by doing so. This new design model created in Pittsburgh became the neW standard for ambulances, paramedics and pre-hospital medical care nationwide.
Image description: Very detailed acrylic painting of a scene of health care workers standing together outside a hospital. At the top of the painting words read “Freedom House Enterprise Inc. First Day, June 16, 1968” and “Defy the Design.” The 11 health care workers are a mix of skin colors, predominantly Black, with one feminine person among them. Most wear suit paints, short sleeved button down white shirts, and ties. One wears scrubs and a doctor’s white coat. One wears a white nurse’s dress. Behind them are two long white cars with red lights on top. Below the people, these words are painted in white with black shadow: “Before Freedom House, emergency medical response in Pittsburgh was often inadequate, especially in the Hill District and low-income communities. Police and morticians were relied upon, providing minimal medical assistance. Founded in 1967, FHE was the first emergency medical service in the United States to provide professionally trained pre-hospital emergency care. Staffed primarily by Black paramedics, PHE addressed the disparities and barriers to accessing timely medical care in Pittsburgh and became the new design model nationwide.”