PRESS RELEASE Echoing Pittsburgh’s groundbreaking 1960s-1970s initiative that provided emergency management service (EMS) training to economically disadvantaged individuals, UPMC and UPMC Health Plan have announced candidate recruitment is underway for the Hill District-based “Freedom House 2.0” program to train and employ a new generation of emergency responders. Freedom House 2.0 is funded from a $235,000 grant from Partner4Work, the public workforce investment board for Allegheny County, and builds upon UPMC’s Pathways to Work program and ongoing collaboration with the board on strategies to offer low-income individuals meaningful job training and support. “This community-based training program recognizes how emergency response has evolved,” said Dan Swayze, UPMC Health Plan Vice President of Community Services and Director of Operations, UPMC Innovative Health Care Solutions. “UPMC and UPMC Health Plan understand that today’s paramedics need to take time to find out what an individual actually needs and get him or her connected to the right system of care, rather than just assuming the Emergency Department has the best solution.”