Medical professionals protect their families by using RVs during COVID19 crisis
Amy Towner, CEO of Health Care Foundation for Ventura County called upon Jeff Sukay President/Principal Dealer of the Kirby Auto Group requesting his help in providing temporary housing for the Doctors & Nurses of the Ventura County based hospitals. Always willing to help the community, Sukay answered “ Immediately, we are all in to help our health community in time of a crisis.” Sukay backed his statement with a viable solution by donating a fleet of RVs to be used by the doctors and nurses on staff. The fleet of RVs were provided by Kirby’s Barber RV which is owned by the Kirby Auto Group located in the Ventura Auto Center serving the community for over 54 years.
Towner said, “When this obvious need arose, I immediately thought to call Jeff Sukay at Kirby Auto Group without hesitation. Jeff has been a pillar and presence in our community for decades and he rose to the occasion straightaway by providing solutions of RV’s to our frontline healthcare workers in the face of the pandemic and on behalf of our community’s health and safety. Kirby Auto Group and Kirby’s Barber RV are speaking with their actions by providing safe shelter and place of respite for our frontline workers at Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital which holds special meaning to staff and community. The RV’s say tangibly; we care, we value you, we want you to have a safe space to shelter and we are going to get through this historic pandemic together.”
From left to right:
Ian McGraw – Operations Director for VCMC
Jeff Sukay – President, Kirby Auto Group
Amy Towner – CEO of Health Care Foundation for Ventura County
Louis Vierstra – Fixed Operations Director, Kirby’s Barber RV
Mike Arrambide – General Manager, Kirby’s Barber RV
Photo Credit – Shelly Bese -Doolittle
The Kirby Auto Group believes in giving back to its community
Helping the local Ventura community is second nature for the Kirby Auto Group which is located in the Ventura Auto Center. In this time of a crisis our medical professionals are hard at work all while trying to eliminate bringing home the COVID19 virus to their loved ones, the self contained RVs provide isolated comfort away from home. The last thing our medical professionals need to worry about is infecting their loved ones at home with the COVID19, RVs provide that peace of mind!
Kirby’s Barber RV makes it happen – fleet of RVs delivered to hospitals
Mike Arrambide – General Manager of Kirby’s Barber RV allocated a mix of travel trailers and class Cs from his inventory suited to the task to accommodate the Hospitals. Arrambide said “Kirby’s Barber RV has been supporting the RV community for over 50 years, the moment we heard of the need at VCMC we jumped at the opportunity to help out our frontline Medical people.” We feel its our duty to step up and be there for them all.
Together with Louis Vierstra – Fixed Ops Director they both met with Amy Towner CEO of Health Care Foundation for Ventura County and Ian Mcgraw who is the facilities Director for VCMC to set up the logistics at the Ventura and Santa Paula Hospitals for the utilities which will provide the necessary power and water needs to assure comfort away from home for the medical professionals. Due to the COVID19 virus shutdown, RV campgrounds were forced to close, hospital staff made use of its precious parking lots to park the RVs as an alternative solution.
RVs provide flexible housing solutions during Crises and national emergencies
Vierstra said “RVs have proven time and time again in becoming the most adaptable vehicles on the road whether it be for family vacations or providing viable mobile solutions in times of a crises and national emergencies.” Considered an essential product and service, RVs have more than proven themselves as the answer to providing housing on the go with all the comforts of home. At times like this it is crucial that all areas of the RV industry products, services and RV campgrounds remain open as essential services as they offer the flexibility to meet the demands that pandemics can inflict.
According to Phil Ingrassia President of The National Dealers Association “RVs are also currently being used as COVID-19 mobile test centers and temporary quarantine quarters because they provide a safe, controlled environment”.