Coronavirus: COVID-19 front-line workers stay separate but close to family with donated RV campers

Kelli Lofoco, who is also a registered nurse, is staying home with the couple’s 7-year-old child. Kelli said the couple had to figure out a way to live without putting Kelli and their daughter at risk.

"We looked at each other, and said we have to live separately," Kelli Lofoco told KSAZ-TV. "It was not an easy decision. It did not come lightly. It has been hard on our family," she said.

Kelli posted on the RVs 4 MDs Facebook page, and later connected with Shannon Armstrong, an RV owner who lives about 25 miles away.

"I think that there's so many people out there right now that are wiling to help, and they're looking for ways to do it," Armstrong told KSAZ-TV.

RVs 4 MDs was created by Emily Chaconas Phillips, whose husband is an emergency room doctor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Phillips posted on Facebook last month asking if anyone in her network had an RV she could borrow, so that her husband could stay close, while she and their young baby stayed protected.

"Before the RV, I was a nervous wreck. Every time my husband walked in the door or put his hand on something, I thought we were going to get (COVID-19), including my baby," Phillips said. "But now that he's in that RV, I'm back to my life, focused on my full-time job and my kids, and it's completely changed our situation."

RVs 4 MDs has more than 30,000 members across the U.S. and has garnered more than 5,000 posts in the last month. A volunteer group provides a form for RV owners and medical professionals in need to fill out and coordinates communication between the two. RV owners are encouraged to post photos of the campers they're offering up.

LaRayne Quale, whose husband is an emergency room physician in Burlington, North Carolina, posted on the page and was matched with an RV owner last month, allowing her the ability to keep the couple’s children and Quale’s elderly mother-in-law safe. Quale later became a volunteer for RVs 4 MDs.

"It was such an emotional thing to go through and to have someone offer up their RV completely for free, I felt so blessed," Quale told CNN. "I asked if they wanted us to cover the insurance, but they wanted nothing ... They said that they are praying for us and rooting for us."

Kelli Lofoco says having her husband close and quarantined has allowed their family to stay connected in some ways. They’re still able to see each other and talk from a safe distance in the front yard. Plus, she told KSAZ-TV, he never misses out on a home-cooked meal.