A New Jersey health care worker who says she is fearful of exposing her family to COVID-19 now has a safe place to stay thanks to the kindness of strangers.

Anissa Braddock is a physician assistant at Virtual Our Lady of Lourdes in Camden. She cares for COVID-19 patients and was scared that she was putting her family at risk.

“How could I go home to them knowing I was their biggest threat?” asks Braddock.

Braddock says that she was fearful that she would bring the virus home to her husband and 6-year-old daughter.

“I know a lot of people think, ‘Oh, just take off your clothes when you first get home, take a shower and sterilize your clothes,’” she says. “But there’s still that risk and I just couldn’t take it if my husband got sick. Who’s going to take care of my daughter?”

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Braddock’s husband then discovered “RVs for MDs” – a Facebook group matching RV owners with health care workers. This is how Braddock met Beth Fisher.

 

“Since our trip had been canceled and of course we’re all in ‘stay at home mode’ we decided to just give the camper, lend the camper to someone and I just so happened that the Moorestown girl was about to be put into the ER COVID area. She posted that she needed one, so it worked out pretty well,” says Fisher.

Braddock says that Fisher spent the whole morning setting the RV up for her to make sure that it was comfortable.

“I couldn’t ask for more. They are amazing,” she says.

The RV is currently set up in the driveway of Braddock’s mother, but she will soon be able to put it in her own driveway. She says that she can’t wait to be closer to home.

“For me, it was really important that I still am close to my family – for my mental health, peace of mind, and my 6-year-old. I think she needed to know that I was OK and that she was still going to see me every day, as much as possible,” Braddock says.

Braddock says that some of her co-workers have also been matched with RV owners so that they can also self-isolate.