Central Coast nurses shop for those at high risk for COVID-19

HOLLISTER, Calif. (KION) Under shelter-in-place orders, people might be worried about going to the grocery store and being so close to others. But a group of nurses on the Central Coast are offering help.

Sally Melendez is one of those nurses. She just got off a six-day stretch of work during a pandemic. But she’s not staying home with her family. She’s at Safeway.

“I called up some of my nursing friends and I said, ‘you know what, we have to find a way to help the elderly in the community stay in their car and get their groceries for them,’” Melendez said.

So she spent her day outside the Hollister grocery store taking orders by phone and text. Then, she shopped for about 15 different people’s groceries.

“I love taking care of people," Melendez said. "I tell people every day I’d be a nurse for $2 an hour. I love it so much.”

Melendez said she was inspired by needing to take care of her own mother.

“I was doing her shopping and I came in and I was just shocked to see how many elderly people were out in the stores,” Melendez said.

So she is especially concerned about people over 50 and those with underlying medical conditions.

“We all know that they’re the most at-risk with this," Melendez said.

So she and her friends were protecting themselves in order to protect their community.

“While we’re here helping these people, we have hand sanitizer and wipes for ourselves, the carts, and we’ve even given wipes to the people that we’re helping,” nurse Kim Hutchison said.

They say they'll be posting their future shopping hours in the "What's Going on in Hollister" Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/585601614805542/