It’s All in the Family for Six AtlantiCare Employees

If you live in South Jersey, you certainly know people who work for AtlantiCare. After all, the health care provider is one of the area's largest employers with over 5400 employees working in 70 locations around southern New Jersey.

Even still, the story of one family of AtlantiCare employees is pretty amazing. Six members of one local family  – all work, or have worked for AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Medical Services Department.

They include sisters Donna Haugen(1), a medical communicator, of Marmora, and Sandra Monaghan(2), of Forked River. Haugen has been an emergency medical technician  for 33 years, a dispatcher for 31 years and a paramedic for AtlantiCare for the last 10 years.

Haugen’s son Brandon Smith(3), of Ocean City, is also a medical communicator with ARMC EMS. He started working for AtlantiCare in 2015.

Monaghan’s son Ryan Monaghan(4), of Egg Harbor Township, is a flight paramedic. Her daughter, Erin Monaghan(5) is an EMT.

Her daughter-in-law, Dreu Monaghan(6), is a registered nurse at ARMC City Campus, who began her medical career as an EMT. Dreu is Ryan’s wife.

The family agrees that, while each day is different for them individually, the constants for all of them are the privilege of helping people and the opportunity to share their experiences with each other.
“Having family members there to be able to empathize and understand the stresses that come with this field is a major stress reliever,” says Dreu Monaghan. “You never feel alone in your work.”

“There’s a unique spirit of giving, caring, and kinship that comes from being surrounded by family who save lives for a living,” says Sandra Monaghan. “We’re all in various levels of EMS, so we’re constantly offering support and learning from each other about how we can improve.”

“I’m incredibly proud to be part of a family that’s devoted to helping others,” added Ryan. “And dinner conversations are never boring.”

Thanks to AtlantiCare's Jennifer Tornetta for the information on this amazing family of AtlantiCare employees.