Pinnacle Closing Keynote: Retention Over Recruitment
“You know you’re a leader when you turn around and there are people behind you.”
Aaron Dix, MBA, NRP, Administrator of Mobile Medicine and Patient Logistics at Prisma Health, related a personal anecdote of passing a car accident on his way to work and stopping to assist the fire department with a seriously injured patient. After securing the airway and stabilizing the patient’s condition, the business suit that Dix had been wearing was so soaked with blood he could feel it running down the inside of his pants leg.
The purpose of the story is that leadership isn’t about directing employees and assigning roles. It’s about creating a culture that fosters success and demands excellence regardless of circumstance.
For years, EMS has poured energy and resources into staff recruitment—yet the staffing crisis persists. When organizations invest in culture, growth, mentorship, psychological safety, and meaningful career pathways, they create environments in which people want to stay—and word-of-mouth becomes the strongest recruitment tool of all.
In his closing keynote address at the Pinnacle EMS conference July 16, 2026, Dix emphasized that EMS must shift from reactive hiring to proactive people development. Your workplace must inspire loyalty, foster belonging, and strengthen organizational identity. The message is clear: Fix retention, and recruitment will take care of itself.
Dix oversees a large EMS division, a consolidated communications center, a robust MIH program, patient flow operations, emergency management, and fleet for the largest health system in South Carolina.
Prisma Health is a private nonprofit health company with 29,754 team members, 18 acute and specialty hospitals, 2,827 licensed beds, 305 practice sites, and more than 5,200 employed and independent clinicians across its clinically integrated network.
Along with this network, Prisma Health serves almost 1.5 million unique patients annually in its 21-county market area that covers 50% of South Carolina.
“If you’re having conversations about recruitment and retention, you’re missing the boat,” Dix stressed to his audience. Instead, it’s all about workplace culture.
Culture isn’t a gimmick, Dix told his audience. It requires intentional effort. If you want people to work for you, what’s different and unique and useful about your workplace? What does your brand stand for?
It costs nothing to create a positive working environment, Dix said. How can you accomplish this?
- Take responsibility for your actions. “Own the environment you’re working in,” said Dix. Pursue accreditation by leading standards associations such as CAAS, CAMTS and the Resuscitation Academy.
- Re-recruit your superstars. We often ignore our high performers because they don’t demand attention. “Earn their trust back every single day,” Dix said.
- Put your time and energy into retaining your existing staff rather than attracting new ones. Instead of signing bonuses for new hires, put that money toward bonuses, overtime and other incentives for existing staff. “Retain your team and they will recruit for you,” Dix said. “If you want to motivate your team, stop de-motivating them.” Find ways to make their work shifts less stressful and difficult.
- Don’t strive to be just unique—just because you’re unique doesn’t mean you’re useful. “What separates your agency from the others?” asked Dix. “But be useful.”
You can decide to change all you want, but without action it means nothing. Dix tells his leaders after every regular meeting: When you leave here, you must do something different. “You must take action.”
Figure out what your culture is. What is your competitive advantage?
Presented by Fitch & Associates, the 21st Pinnacle EMS conference is taking place July 13-17 at the Sheraton Resort San Diego.
