The South Bronx attracted our interest after seeing a television news report about the “sweat equity” urban pioneers and their heroic enterprise of refurbishing abandoned housing for the poor in the midst of a burning ghetto. The Plenty Ambulance Service provided free emergency care and transport to residents of the South Bronx from 1978 until 1984. New York City police said they appreciated Plenty’s quick response time. In 1982 the Plenty Ambulance Service received New York’s Jefferson Award for “outstanding public service.” The Emergency Medical Technician training program graduated 100 New York State-licensed emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in the South Bronx over the same period. The idea of hippies running ambulance with red lights and siren around the streets of New York brought media coverage the likes of which we hadn’t seen before: Dan Rather, New York Times, People Magazine, and the front pages of The Daily News, The Post, the Wall Street Journal, and on local nightly news.