The following is a highly accurate historical account of the funeral home and commercial operated emergency ambulance service that existed in Houston, Texas during the late 60's and prior to the fire department takeover in mid-1971.

For many decades, such long established funeral homes as Settegast-Kopft, Carswell, Earthman, Hilliard, Niday, Fair, McCoy & Harrison, among other great Houston funeral homes, provided emergency ambulance service to Houston citizens. If you were a citizen in Houston in the late 60's and you needed an ambulance, you dialed a seven digit emergency phone number and were connected with a police officer call taker in the communications center located on the top floor of the downtown Houston Police Department headquarters on Reasoner Street. There, your call request information was taken, entered on a call slip and handed over to the ambulance dispatcher who sat at the opposite end of a conveyor belt from the other four police radio dispatchers who sat in a separate room. The conveyor belt was used to transport police service call slips from the six seated call takers to the zone dispatchers.

At this point, the ambulance dispatcher (a Houston Police Officer), would determine where the call was located and determine the closest funeral home or commercial ambulance provider. In order to be dispatched by the Houston Police Department to city received calls, the ambulance service had to be licensed by the City of Houston Licensing Department and be issued a "medallion" which was a small metal red tag with white lettering which read "EMERGENCY AMBULANCE" and had a unique four digit identification number which was also the ambulance radio designation. One tag was displayed on the front on the ambulance and the second tag was displayed on the back, usually below the vehicle license plate. Every city licensed ambulance was also required to have a VHF high-band radio that could allow the ambulance to communicate with the Houston Police Ambulance Dispatcher. The radio also had a second channel to allow communications between the ambulance and their commercial or funeral home base office. The ambulance dispatcher would look on a status board that consisted of sixty-(60) lights that either burned a steady red (to indicate that the city licensed ambulance was available for call response), blinking red (to indicate that the ambulance was currently on a city dispatched call), or OFF (to designate that the ambulance was unavailable for a city call). The dispatched ambulance would advise the city dispatcher when en-route to the call address, arrival on scene, what hospital it was en-route to, arrival at the hospital and when back in service.

Years earlier, the City of Houston had adopted the "Model Ambulance Ordinance" which had been developed by the American College of Surgeons and the National Safety Council and which contained a minimum equipment list and licensing requirements. Based on the "model ordinance" which was adopted and entered into local law, the City of Houston required minimal equipment to be carried on-board each "medallion" ambulance at all times which included a regular ambulance 2-level stretcher, a folding emergency stretcher (for a second patient), an oxygen inhalation unit, ambu-bag, an approved first aid kit content items,, long backboard, short backboard, airways, splints, suction device, Thomas half-ring splint and a fire extinguisher. Each ambulance driver had to carry a current City of Houston issued "Ambulance Driver" permit and each attendant had to carry a current City of Houston issued "Ambulance Attendant" permit which required completing and submitting a notarized city application form and show proof of having a Red Cross First Aid card. It did not specify standard or advanced level first aid training and CPR certification was generally not locally available in Houston to ambulance personnel in the late 60's. The city agency that issued the ambulance permits also issued permits for wrecker and taxi drivers and ambulance drivers very often rotated from driving ambulances to that of cabs and wreckers. The city had an "ambulance inspector" who was empowered to inspect all city licensed ambulances for proper equipment and proper personnel permits. If violations were found, the inspector could remove the medallions and/or order the police dispatcher to place the ambulance as "out-of-service" and not receive city dispatched calls until the violation was corrected and/or the inspector restored the eligibility to receive city dispatched ambulance calls.

Emergency Ambulance Unit #1101, 1201 and 1301 were based off of Houston Avenue (near the Houston Police Headquarters) and operated by Memorial Ambulance Service that served the downtown area. The service operated several raised-roof white over red International raised roof ambulances, a 54" raised roof Superior Cadillac ambulance and was headed by Carl Doak and Bill Posey. Memorial also operated unit 1406 in nearby Galena Park. Unit 1102 was operated by Chauvin Funeral Home and based on North Main Street near Houston Avenue. They served a district just north of downtown and operated a low-roof late 60's International Travel-All chassis truck. Unit 1107 and 1207 were operated by Belfort Ambulance Service which was the largest provider in the city. These vehicles were 1968 raised roof Cotner/Bevington Oldsmobile ambulances and served the zone just east of downtown under the direction of Jimmy Camp. Unit 1109 and 1209 were based on Navigation at Canal Boulevard and operated by Boulevard Funeral Home to serve a district located further east from the adjoining Belfort zone. The Boulevard Funeral Home operated two low roof Pontiac Superior ambulances.

Unit 1110 and 1210 were operated by Houston Emergency Ambulance (HEA) and based on West 26th Street to serve the expansive "Heights" section of Houston which was located 3-4- miles north of the downtown area. The service operated two low roof 1968 Chevrolet low-roof "Suburban" trucks which were painted the same white over blue colors as the Houston Police cars. Both the driver and attendant wore the exact same blue uniforms as the Houston Police Department with badges that read "HOUSTON EMERGENCY" with "1110" or "1210" in the center along with similar patches. Carl Futrell was the owner and operator of the service in that era. Unit 1112 & 1212 was operated by Chauvin Funeral Home and served a Northeast zone closer in to the downtown area. They operated several low-roof late 60's Ford vans.

Unit 1113 and 1213 were operated by Belmont Ambulance Service which had taken over the medallions and ambulance zone when Jack Hilliard, owner of Hilliard Funeral Home, decided to close his funeral home at 1217 Welch Street near Montrose (just west of the downtown area). The Hilliard Funeral Home was been a long-time provider of ambulance service to that city zone and operated several solid Red International "Travel-All" model panel trucks. Belmont Ambulance Service was started by several former Belfort Ambulance Service employees named Harry Smith and Bill Alexander. Both Smith and Alexander were featured in the movie "Bruster McCloud" as extras loading McCloud into a Belfort Miller-Meteor ambulance near the end of the movie. The service started with a 1965 Chevy station wagon and was soon replaced with a 1970 Chevy Suburban and a 1970 low-roof Cotner/Bevington ambulance. Some legends of Belmont included Gordon Davis, Fredrick H. McCloud, Otto Carraway, Matthew Carswell, Robert Lee, Dudley Smith and Lindale Cortez.

Unit 1118 had been operated by Jack Hilliard in the "Heights" until the late 60's when Al Bass purchased the service and operated as Northwest Ambulance Service on  West 26th Street and opposite the zone covered by Houston Emergency Ambulance. The service operated a 1968 low-roof white over red Chevy Suburban ambulance and some of the legends from that service included Dewey Haines and Clyde Sisk. Unit 1119, 1219 and 1319 were operated by Belfort Ambulance Service in the suburban City of Bellaire and also covered the Southwest part of Houston including the cities of West University Place and Southside Place. Like its downtown-east zone, the service operated three 1968 Cotner/Bevington Oldsmobile raised roof ambulances.  Unit 1121 and 1221 were operated by McCoy & Harrison Funeral Home and served a zone just Southeast of the downtown area and were based on Dowling Street near Elgin. McCoy & Harrison ran more city dispatched emergency ambulance calls than any other service on a daily basis. They operated a 1969 low-roof Chevy Suburban and a low-roof Oldsmobile ambulance. Unit 1122 and 1222 were operated by Houston Emergency Ambulance and jointly served the West Little York Road (the north city limits) of North Houston. Unit 1123, 1223 and 1323 were operated by Niday Funeral Home which served the Southeast part of Houston and operated three low-roof 1969 Chevy Suburban trucks. Unit 1124 was operated by Hilliard Funeral Home and was based on East Little York near Interstate 45-North and operated a late 60's white over blue station wagon. Unit 1126 was operated by the Community Chapel Funeral Home, serving the Northeast part of the city and operated a 1969 Chevy suburban ambulance.

Unit 1127 and 1227 was operated by Superior Ambulance Service and owned by Allen Cole. This service featured the latest advancements in emergency patient care equipment and had the cities first Travenol heart/lung resuscitator and required all personnel to be certified Red Cross First Aid Instructors. The service operated a 1969 raised roof Chevy suburban, a low roof superior Cadillac and served the vast South area of Houston including the "Astrodome" and the "Astro World" amusement park. Unit 1129 was operated by Travino Funeral Home which served the growing Hispanic area of East Houston and operated a low-roof Chevy suburban ambulance. Unit 1130 was operated by Fair Funeral Home which served the vast Acres Home area of Northeast Houston. The service was owned by Woodrow "Woody" Fair and operated a 1969 low-roof Chevy Suburban ambulance. Unit 1131 was operated by Walton & Walton Funeral Home in downtown Houston but only responded to "direct calls" from families and did not run on city dispatched emergencies. The service operated a late 60's Ford station wagon. Unit 1132 was operated by Citizens Funeral Home and also served the Acres Home area, but further Northeast. Unit 1134 was operate by North Main Ambulance Service and responded only to direct calls. They operated a solid Black 1965 Chevy panel truck just north of the downtown area.

The Houston Fire Department rarely responded to emergency medical calls in those years and mainly concentrated on the rescue and treatment of victims at fires. In 1967, the fire department began operating Fire Station 1 based unit 501 as a Special Equipment/Forcible Entry vehicle which functioned as a rescue truck for city-wide vehicle accidents. The Harris County Emergency Corps, Inc. also operated rescue trucks out of its headquarters on North Main Street and Houston Avenue and had been mainly responsible for vehicle entrapment response during previous decades. The organization was founded by Ted Felds and later headed by Hank Turner and was 100% volunteer staffed. The legends of that group included Harry Speer, Roland Gomez, Charles Hocker, and Richard Beasley. The Corps had "running members" who operated their own personal owned station wagons and sedans as first responder vehicles for call response throughout the city to assist the Corp's downtown based rescue trucks and the cities ambulance services. They were equipped with a 36-unit first aid kit, a resuscitator, splints, and backboards and were based from their homes in the Southwest, the Northside, the Southeast and the greater downtown areas of Houston. The Harris County Mercy Corps was another volunteer emergency rescue organization which also operated its vehicles as ambulances and mainly served the Houston Ship Channel industrial area. When the fire department took over the city ambulance service, these groups ceased responding in the city and the Harris County Emergency Corps immediately relocated to serve the unincorporated area of North Harris County. The cities of West University Place, Bellaire and the Village operated their own fire department based rescue trucks, but rarely transported patients. The Harris County Hospital District also operated several low-roof Chevy Suburban ambulances for its facilities emergency patient transfers.

On April 1, 1971, the City of Houston Fire Department began providing emergency ambulance service for its citizens when Louie Welch was the Mayor and Lester "Whitey" Martin was the new District Chief in charge of the newly created ambulance division.  Upon takeover by the Houston Fire Department, all existing commercial and funeral home ambulances ceased to run city emergency calls. If a service did receive a private emergency call, they had to first receive approval from the fire department to respond. If the call was deemed a true emergency, the fire department would respond to the call instead of the private service. The City of Houston Health Department took over the licensing of all ambulances from the former City of Houston License Department and mandated federal recommended equipment for all ambulances and EMT training for all personnel.

The foregoing account has afforded a view back in history as to the level of service and training that existed before modern emergency medical services made its introduction in the early 70's in Houston. However, in the 60's, many lives were saved and quality first aid care was rendered by many of the funeral home and commercial services that existed in that era before the days of EMT and paramedic training. The Houston Chapter of the American Red Cross also had a number first aid instructors who equipped their personal vehicles with first aid equipment and emergency lights and often provided assistance at accidents and medical emergencies. The best known instructor of that era was Alfred J. Cannon, a long-time member of the Red Cross Chapter's Disaster Services.