Another Gifted Healthcare Love Story: Meagan & Austin

Travel nursing provides countless opportunities for nurses. For some, it fulfills a desire to meet new people, visit new places, or gain professional experience. For others, it is a way to enjoy a great income while maintaining a flexible schedule. In some cases, travel nursing provides nurses with a rare and valuable experience: true love. Gifted Healthcare is always thrilled to be a part of these happy coincidences, and we never miss an opportunity to share a great nursing love story with the world.

Today’s Gifted Spotlight shines on Meagan and Austin, two travel nurses that fell in love while on assignment with Gifted Healthcare. Read on to learn about their heartwarming journey!

Love & Bacon

Gifted Healthcare nurses Meagan and Austin met while working the night shift at a hospital in Houma, a small town in south Louisiana.

“The floor of the hospital where we met was two-sided, with a north side and a south side,” said Meagan. “I was hired to work on the south side.”

The pair didn’t interact much at first because Austin worked on the north side of the floor. However, one day, Meagan was “floated” to Austin’s side, where they finally met.

Their relationship developed over time, from brief conversations to longer visits and inside jokes. An inside joke the two still share today is their difference in age – Austin, while younger and less experienced than Meagan, served as her charge nurse.

“We still laugh today that he was the ‘Big Bad Charge Nurse,’” said Meagan, sarcastically. “I used to give him a hard time and say that he was still a ‘baby nurse,’ even if he was my charge.”

Eventually, they decided to get breakfast after a long night shift. Sparks began to fly.

“After that morning, he was kind of just stuck with me,” Meagan said. “Nothing super romantic, but hey, anything can happen over bacon.”

Becoming a Couple

Since that fateful breakfast, Meagan and Austin have only become closer.

Meagan explained that she and Austin are living proof that “opposites attract.”

“I think the best part about us is that we are so different,” she said. Meagan believes that her relationship with Austin is so strong because of the balance that their differences create.

“I am the one that jumps out of the plane first, and he’s still checking the parachute,” she joked. “I don’t get nervous about anything, but he’s the sensible one, and that really works for us.”

Meagan and Austin’s engagement was a great example of their healthy mixture of spontaneity and foresight. The couple had chosen Meagan’s wedding ring together and completely planned their wedding before Austin formally proposed.

“His proposal was very funny,” Meagan said, laughing. One morning, Austin received a notification that Meagan’s wedding ring had finally arrived. He told Meagan, who was feeling “grumpy and tired” after working a 12-hour shift, that he was going to pick up breakfast. He brought back the wedding ring instead.

Megan explains: “It was a rainy Monday morning. I thought he had gone to get breakfast, but he didn’t. And I came into the kitchen, upset and hungry, asking him why he didn’t have any food. And while I was taking the trash out, he dropped to his knees and showed me the ring.”

It was an adorable gesture that exemplified the nature of their relationship. Meagan and Austin just need each other – no fireworks or frills required.

Traveling Together

Meagan and Austin’s great teamwork has benefitted their professional lives as well. They regularly take travel nursing assignments together with Gifted Healthcare, working the same schedule.

The pair work together in Lafayette, LA and are in the process of interviewing for a new travel nursing assignment in Mississippi through Gifted Healthcare.

“Facilities and recruiters view our preference to work the same schedule as a benefit, because they’re certain they have two experienced nurses on the floor instead of just one,” said Meagan.

Take the Adventure You’ve Been Waiting for with Gifted Healthcare

Gifted Healthcare is honored to be a part of Meagan and Austin’s story. Their story proves that travel nursing can open doors to unexpected and incredible experiences.

It’s our mission to support nurses and healthcare professionals by giving them the opportunities and resources they need to thrive.

Begin your adventure today with Gifted Healthcare!