Article content continued

In her post, she asked if anyone had any contacts with people who owned recreational vehicles so, should the need arise, she could self-isolate to protect her family, including her 50-year-old husband, Darren, who has some underlying health issues that make him at higher risk should he contract the coronavirus from her.

As luck would have it, Brittany Peers had just joined the Facebook group one day earlier. As soon as she saw Schnell’s post, she took a screengrab of it and texted it to her uncle and aunt, Bruce and Cindy Urban, the owners of Western RV Country — Alberta’s largest RV dealer, with nine locations from Grand Prairie to Lethbridge. They asked Peers to have the nurse contact them.

By 11:48 a.m., a little more than one hour after her original post, Schnell revealed to the group that within minutes of sharing her post, Bruce Urban messaged her and said he would prepare and deliver an RV for her to use anywhere she wants, “so that myself and other frontline workers can self-isolate and keep our families safe.”

Peers says she was not surprised.

“I know my aunt and uncle and I knew they wouldn’t hesitate to help,” said Peers, who is an oil and gas product quality analyst in Calgary and the mother of a one-year-old son.

“I could empathize with this young nurse and mother of young children worrying about infecting her kids,” added Peers.

Schnell, however, was surprised by the speed of the Urbans’ offer.

“It all happened so fast,” she said Monday during a break from seeing patients, who are rigorously screened for COVID-19 symptoms prior to being allowed into the mental-health clinic she works at.