NJ Flight Paramedics Attend Dance For Fallen Coworker's Daughter

STILLWATER, NJ — The annual Stillwater Township Elementary School daddy-daughter dance was coming up, and Kylie Logan didn't want to go.

The 10-year-old lost her father, Patrick Logan, last October, when he died suddenly of a heart attack. Mom Stephanie had convinced Kylie to go with her grandfather, but it still wouldn't be the same.

Thankfully for Kylie, she had an extended family of flight paramedics and nurses ready to step in and support her at the daddy-daughter dance.

Patrick Logan worked as a flight paramedic for Atlantic Health System in Morristown for 15 years, working to save lives as injured patients were flown to nearby hospitals. Stephanie Logan told her husband's fellow paramedics that Kylie was struggling with the upcoming dance, and they stepped in to "stand watch" over Kylie.

Art Samaras, Morgan Troisi, Paul Horsey, and Jim McGrath, all members of the team Patrick Logan worked on, attended the dance alongside Kylie and her grandfather.

"We wanted to make sure she felt Pat’s presence. A few of us put on our flight suits and arranged to be at the dance and 'stand watch' over Pat’s only daughter. We wanted her to know that we will never forget her father, and that she will always have someone to look over her in his absence. We were never seeking to replace him, but simply to do some of the things he would have done as a loving husband and father," said Art Samaras, a manager and flight paramedic with Atlantic Mobile Health.

They team has also supported the Logan family financially, organizing fundraisers and working to complete home renovations projects left unfinished at the time of Patrick Logan's death.

"To be honest, being there was as much for the four of us that attended as it was for Kylie," Samaras said. "We all miss Pat."