A spontaneous idea by a Dallas-area woman for keeping her doctor husband quarantined from the rest of the family when he is off duty during the coronavirus crisis has blossomed into ad hoc, national volunteer service to match medical personnel with people willing to donate an RV or camper.
This story by Doug Stanglin originally appeared in USA Today.
The idea, launched a week ago, is simple: Provide a cheap way for medical personnel to remain near their families without risking infecting them.
Emily Phillips told USA TODAY that she was concerned when her husband, Jason, would return home in scrubs and medical gear after working with numerous patients daily as an emergency physician.
She said she was afraid he might inadvertently infect her, or her children, 8-year-old Landon, 5-year-old Ella, and 6-month-old Beau, who live in a large house on secluded acreage in Celina, north of Dallas.
An appeal on her Facebook page a week ago quickly turned up two local offers of RVs. By the time they brought one home, Craig Reese Brockman, a local doctor who supervises residents at Parkland Hospital, a major Dallas facility, had expressed interest in getting one. Emily and Jason gave up theirs and took a second one.
Emily Phillips then took the idea online on a Facebook page dubbed “RVs 4 MD’s.”
There are now 10 online administrators who work 24/7 trying to match RV donors with medical people looking for a camper.
She said more than 1,400 people from around the country – from Sacramento to Houston to New York – have posted offer to donate or lend their RV.
Her one requirement: the whole process must be entirely free.