CAPE CORAL, FLA — "I was feeling very anxious and scared about living in my own home because my husband he's an ER physician," said Emily Phillips.
For Phillips, a mother in North Texas, a conversation with her mom quickly changed things.
"My mom actually had the idea, she said 'Why don't you see if someone has an RV that you can rent?'" said Phillips.
So she hopped onto Facebook to put out the call, and that led her to a friend of a friend named Holly, who was more than happy to lend the Phillips family her RV.
"It was just one of those things were you kinda don't think about it, you just do it, said Holly Haggard.
The Haggard's RV now sits parked in the Phillips family backyard. And Emily's husband is living comfortably inside.
This unique way to help a doctor isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic could have just stayed where it started, in Frisco, TX, but then word got out.
"Holly and I kind of looked at each other and said, 'You know what this is going to be a thing," said Phillips.
They turned that "Thing" into the Facebook group "RVs 4 MDs."
In just about a month, it's matched more than 600 frontline workers across the country with donated RVs and campers, mostly from complete strangers.
"It's America uniting," said Haggard.
They're strangers, like one Bonita springs couple, Janie Spangler and Glenn Loontjnes.
"I mean you feel like this virus is bigger than all of us. What can we possibly do? We're not doctors, we're not healthcare workers and all of a sudden we actually had something that I think is gonna prove pretty vital," said Spangler.
They were recently matched with the Martinez family in Miami and drove their camper over to drop it off.
"I thought it it was a god-send," said Olivia Martinez.
Martinez's son is a healthcare worker in Miami-Dade county.
"My husband and I are 77 and 79 and we have serious health problems. If we got this virus we'd be dead," said Martinez.
She says the camper her son sleeps in, is saving lives and giving those on the frontlines some needed peace of mind.
"It's very important, you're taking a huge burden off of them. They're stressed enough as it is," said Martinez.
For more information about the "RVs for MDs" program, click here.
