Starting a Bachelor of Nursing at the same time, taking the same subjects, and even attending the same classes together; Andrew and Kirsten Beer might just be taking their ‘til death do us part’ vows a little too seriously.
While serving in the Army, in 2016, Andrew was deployed to Fiji to help with the recovery efforts in communities affected by Cyclone Winston. He did some work in a hospital and upon his return told Kirsten how much he enjoyed it and wanted to study something in the medical field like nursing. Kirsten had also been interested in studying nursing for a while so they decided to do it together.
'We both worked full-time and had our daughter Audrey during our studies, so to get our degrees and complete this goal together was very fulfilling. We pushed each other to do better and we gave it everything. It was a real team effort.'
Having celebrated their graduation success together, the inseparable Ipswich couple both landed full-time positions at the Ipswich Hospital. Andrew works as a graduate nurse in the Intensive Care Unit, while Kirsten is a theatre scrub nurse.
'We enjoyed studying together. If one of us was struggling in a particular area or couldn’t grasp a concept, we would work it out together. It was like having a permanent study mate living with you. I don’t think we could have done as well as we did without the other one,' he said.
