A local nurse is planning on living in an RV in her driveway to keep her immuno-compromised family safe while she works on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Fedorek, a nurse at the Sturgeon Hospital who works in acute care, will be living in the St. Albert Inn from, paying a discounted rate until she can move into an RV parked in front of her house for the summer.
“I feel so fortunate and lucky, because I know there's a lot of people in very similar situations as me and I know that they have it worse off than me. So I feel very fortunate that I've got certain resources set up,” Fedorek said.
Fedorek has two sons, both 15, but one was born at 26 weeks and has had 64 surgeries and procedures throughout his life.
“He has had half of his lung removed. And he's got respiratory issues. He's had his throat reconstructed. And so there's a narrowing there with scar tissue. And so I put him at risk to go to work and yet, I know I have to go to work,” Fedorek said.
Fedorek was working at the beginning of March and sent her two sons to live with her sister in Caroline, Alta., as she was going into the hospital every day for work where there were COVID-19 cases being tested and treated and she wanted to keep her kiddos safe.
But the mom said it wasn’t good for the family to stay separated and her son needed to be near his health care team.
“To be honest, my son needs to be here in St. Albert. His surgeons, his doctors, the U of A Stollery is right here,” Fedorek said.
On top of that, the family loves being together and is affectionate toward each other and missed being together.
Once the kids are back, family members will be staying with them in the house in St. Albert while Fedorek lives at the St. Albert Inn and works.
Once she moves onto the driveway, family will still stay with her kids to help make sure they are taken care of and she will be able to see them from a distance to keep connected with them.
The mom said her and her kids are “cuddle monsters” so not being able to touch her kids for months is going to be really hard.
“It's definitely been a worry. My love language is touch ... It's definitely worrisome,” Fedorek said.
The nurse hopes to keep busy with work and expects at the end of the day when she goes to bed she will be exhausted.
“I'm just going to try to work through this and sleep through this. I'm going to just try to keep my brain off it,” Fedorek said.
The mom has a small trailer but can’t live in it because it doesn’t have a shower, and she will need to shower every day after work. Fedorek said as a nurse she is a germophobe and plans to keep the borrowed RV “spotless” and return it in immaculate condition.
Fedorek posted on Facebook asking for anyone to donate a trailer with a shower for her to live in while she works on the frontlines and just a few days later her call was answered.
Go Auto RV reached out to her and said they will be allowing the family to take a trailer for free to live in for at least a month.
“That has just taken a large load off my shoulders,” Fedorek said.
Thejus Swamy, a vice-president at the Edmonton Go Auto RV, said he heard the family's story and wanted to give back. Swamy said the family is "incredible" and said he wanted to help them out while they were in a tough spot.
Swamy said he was impressed that the nurse was going in every day to help care for the community despite having to make such a sacrifice to do so.
"She's out there doing this for us," Swamy said.
"But you're still doing it because you feel like it's your calling and I genuinely was like, 'Wow, they are just incredible people.'"
Swamy asked the management team with the company if they could give the family and RV and they all decided they wanted to help out.
The family will be getting the RV this weekend.
"I'm happy that we can help those who need help in a time when a lot of people can't help themselves."
