How Patriot Ambulance Uses Local Engagement to Build Trust & Recruit Talent

FEATURING: Angelia Lambrix-Caballero, Creative Marketing Director, Patriot Ambulance

HOSTED BY: Alison Costello, President, Decibel Media

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION

For Patriot Ambulance, community engagement isn't separate from marketing, it's at the center of the strategy.

In this episode of the Decibel Impact Series, Angelia Lambrix-Caballero, Creative Marketing Director at Patriot Ambulance, joins Decibel Media President Alison Costello to discuss how the organization connects community visibility, recruiting and integrated media to strengthen recognition and attract EMTs, paramedics and other medical professionals.

The conversation covers Patriot's community-first recruiting model, the channels outperforming expectations, how the team looks at performance across multiple signals, and where it is becoming more intentional about marketing investment.

READ THE CONVERSATION

Prefer to read? See the video transcript below.

02:10   Community-First Recruiting

Alison Costello:  The community is your prospect pool for recruitment, so those two strategies naturally support each other.

Angelia Lambrix-Caballero:  A big focus of our marketing is both community engagement and recruiting. We're constantly recruiting EMTs, paramedics and experienced medical professionals, so our campaigns are community-focused but driven toward recruiting. The message is: come work with us because you're joining a company that cares about and is immersed in the community.

05:11   Measuring Impact

Alison Costello:  How do you measure success? What are some of the KPIs you look at?

Angelia Lambrix-Caballero:  Since launching the integrated campaign, we've seen increases in recruiting, applicants, new employees and trainees entering the program. We also look at community recognition and feedback. It's not one metric, we look at the full picture and whether everything is moving in the right direction.

07:04   Top-Performing Channels

Alison Costello:  Have any tactics or strategies surprised you in terms of performance?

Angelia Lambrix-Caballero:  YouTube and streaming surprised me the most. They're outperforming the standard benchmarks, and we're seeing the strongest engagement in the areas where we most need recruiting.

08:00   The Patriot Playbook

Alison Costello:  If another medical transportation organization asked for the one playbook you'd recommend, what would it be?

Angelia Lambrix-Caballero:  Immerse yourself in the community. Most people only interact with an ambulance company during difficult moments. We want people to see us the way they see police and fire, as first responders and neighbors who are here to help.

11:16   Biggest Budget Lesson

Alison Costello:  What do you think has been the biggest waste of budget, or something you would spend less on now?

Angelia Lambrix-Caballero:  Print materials. At job fairs and career fairs, QR codes are often all we need. We're also becoming more strategic about the events we participate in because every event has a real operational cost, from the ambulance and crew to sponsorships and staffing.

12:57   Most Trusted Metric

Alison Costello:  What metric do you trust the most when you're trying to understand community impact and performance?

Angelia Lambrix-Caballero:  Word of mouth is what I trust the most. But I also look at Google Analytics, social traffic and reporting from our media partners. I look at everything together to understand whether we're moving in the right direction.