SALEM, Va. – Ahead of Father’s Day this weekend, 10 News shares the story of the special bond between a father-daughter duo that works together at LewisGale Medical Center.
Gary Beckner has been a cardiovascular tech in catheterization labs for over 20 years.
His daughter, Kelsey, started to take a liking to his line of work when she was just a kid.
“I would bring her to work with me when I was on call. And we would actually at the end of the procedure, I would talk her through some of the anatomy of the heart. The more I did that, the more interesting questions she would have and she would talk to me about it and I could see that there was interest,” said Gary.
Kelsey made the decision to become a surgical tech and first-assist in open heart surgery.
After school, she accepted a job at LewisGale Medical Center.
“He was very supportive, very supportive. His number one thing is hearts. He loves doing everything in that kind of specialty. And he was pushing me to go for it. He’s been my biggest supporter through all of it really,” said Kelsey.
Shortly after, Gary followed his daughter to LewisGale for a change to work alongside one another.
“It’s a good bond. It’s nice to see him at work. It’s just a little bit different cause it’s not on our own time, it’s at work. It’s like, ‘Oh, I get to see my Dad everyday.’ So, it’s pretty nice,” said Kelsey.
“We kind of know what each other are going to do before we even say anything. It’s just been a really great opportunity for us and I’ve loved every minute of it,” said Gary.
The pair has been working together for almost three years, and they hope for more to come.