As a Riverside intensive care unit (ICU) nurse caring for patients with COVID-19, Ken Hashimoto wasn't going to risk infecting his wife and three children.
"Four days ago when i hugged my kids for the last time, it was hard, but in the long run, it's safer for them," Ken Hashimoto, and ICU nurse, said.
"We were just heartbroken he would be gone," Ken's wife, Allison, said.
But then came a solution on how to keep Ken home but far enough away to not endanger his loved ones using a recreational vehicle parked in the driveway.
"I look out and wave to the kids, interact with them," Ken said.
Allison adds, "They can yell, and he can hear them through the windows. And to see his physical presence for all of us, that’s been big."
The idea came about when two Texas moms saw a need.
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"There’s four pieces to this, the heart of the donors are shining heart of receivers are shining heart of volunteer and audience shining," Holly Haggard of RVs 4 MDs to Fight Coronavirus said.
In less than two weeks, the Texas moms' Facebook group “RVs for MDs to Fight the Coronavirus” matched hundreds of health care workers with RVs, with hundreds more pending.
That’s where Mike Sevoian with rolling getaway RV rentals came in. He’s already donated all four of his RV’s to health care workers in Yucaipa, including to Ken.
"If you have the desire to help, people need it," Sevoian of Rolling Getaway RV Rentals said. "RVs sitting that could be used to help somebody right now"
Ken's family calls its RV "The Pipe Dream," with many of his fellow healthcare workers hoping for a match too.
"I am utmost appreciative of and can't thank people involved enough," Ken said.
The organizers of RVs for MDs have hundreds of volunteers helping, and they're hoping to work with engineers to create a more efficient platform for matches.
