Camper donation eases mind of Rockville Centre nurse

Rockville Centre nurse Kathleen McCormack, 28, has “one less thing to worry about” amid the coronavirus pandemic, after a couple donated their camper to her on Tuesday.

Michael and AnnMarie Walker docked the camper on her Raymond Street driveway, fully sanitized and stocked with toiler paper, and told her it was free of charge until the crisis is over. “It’s really amazing,” she said.

Kathleen had been living with her parents, Ruthanne and Joe, both 58, and working shifts at St. Francis Hospital. Meanwhile, Ruthanne has been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia for a month.

After her most recent hospital visit on Saturday, when she was having difficulty breathing, the family decided it was best if Kathleen self-isolated outside of the home and started scouring Facebook listings for RVs to rent.

Ruthanne messaged the Walkers — Michael, a Nassau County police officer, and AnnMarie, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center — and explained her situation. Though the Walkers were looking to sell the camper, they offered immediately to give it to Kathleen for free during this time.

“Officer Walker said he’d have it clean and walk-in ready by 4 p.m. [Tuesday],” Ruthanne said, “and sure enough he hooked it up, gave it to my daughter, and it has everything — heat, hot water...

“[Kathleen] is so much happier,” Ruthanne added, “and under less stress knowing that she can do her job and not harm us.”

Kathleen has been working as a registered nurse for a year now at St. Francis. She noted that, since the coronavirus, some of her colleagues have gotten sick and infected family members. She knew how dangerous this could be, as her mother already had pneumonia. The thought of passing on the virus added to the stresses of work, where so many people are battling Covid-19.

“I went from taking care of patients having knee and hip replacements or heart surgeries to all Covid patients who are very critical,” Kathleen noted. “It just spreads so fast throughout a household.

“I’m so thankful that [the Walkers] will allow me to keep my family safe.”