CHAMPLIN, Minn. — Heidi Estrem's car means a lot more to her than just transportation these days. As an essential healthcare provider at a nursing home in the Twin Cities, Heidi says her daily coming-home routine has grown longer and stricter after a few folks at the facility passed away from COVID-19.
"I come home, I close the garage door, change my clothes in the car with additional clothes I have in there," Heidi started. "I go inside, I don't say hi to anybody, I go up to the bathroom, take a shower, wash with soap and then I go into our bedroom. I put on different clothes, come back, walk downstairs, wash my hands once, disinfect everything. Then I go upstairs, get the clothes I was wearing in the car, bring them downstairs, put them in the laundry, come upstairs, wash my hands again and disinfect everything I think I touched."
Only then, is she able to say hello to her husband and her teenage son. Only then, is she able to pick up and hold her two-year-old toddler tight.
"Two-year-olds don't understand why mom can't pick them up," Heidi said. "14-year-olds can, but two-year-olds can't."
The Esterms thought there has to be a better way than to spend every day going through the excruciating cleaning routine. Then, on a weekend stroll, Heidi's husband, Adam, had an idea.
"A few of our neighbors have campers and we kind of jokingly said, 'hey, we should ask if we can borrow someone's camper,'" Adam said. "I'll put up a Facebook post and see if anyone's got one we can borrow."
It didn't take long for the Estrems to be directed towards a Facebook page called RVs 3 MDs. The group was acting as a mediator to put families in touch with each other. One family looking for an RV for their healthcare worker to live in could reach out, and get matched with a family with an RV to lend for a while.
That's how the Estrems got in touch with the Madich family. Grant Madich pulled up in the Estrems' driveway on Friday to deliver hope.
"It's just so much more work than we thought it was--with a family of five to go out and camp, so we knew we had one available," Madich said. "We saw the Facebook page and thought, 'Hey, this would be great.'"
The plan is to have Heidi start sleeping in the RV as soon as the day comes when she is interacting with COVID-19 patients non-stop. With the arrival of the RV, in a way, it was a day for Heidi to come to terms with the new reality. She was giving in to the pandemic, without giving up on her family.
"I'll at least be thankful that I can see them in the yard," she said. "I can watch them play, I can eat dinner with them from a distance. That I can still be with them."
A job like hers and so many others is thankless right now--not because of a lack of gratitude-- but because there just isn't time to say thank you. However, the Madich family made their gratitude clear, motivating Heidi to work harder.
"I will continue to show up until they tell me I can't," Heidi said, adding that she has no regrets coming into the healthcare industry. "Even if it means I have to be separate from my family, I will continue to show up."
The Madich's and the Estrem's both say they haven't worked out any specifics for the deal and do not plan to. The Madich family says they just want the RV back once the pandemic is over, and the Estrems say they will have it professionally cleaned before it is returned.