Pictured in happier times, the Engelson family — Gabriel, Emmett, Holly, Nate, Charlotte, Vanessa and Cheyenne — are staying out of harm’s way.

SOUTH PACIFIC COUNTY — With schools shut down statewide, families are scrambling to put together schedules for their kids, help each other with childcare and other needs, and find ways to make the most of the situation. Here is a look at how six local families are meeting the challenge.

The McMullens

Tammy McMullen, a teacher at Long Beach Elementary and principal-in-training at Ilwaco High School, had to go on quarantine due to a fever that started March 10. She couldn’t get tested for coronavirus, as her symptoms were not severe enough with tests as scarce as they are. But she was advised to quarantine herself for 72 hours after the end of symptoms, which came that Thursday.

Thad is an engineering technician currently working on a Department of Transportation project on the Arch Cape tunnel near Cannon Beach.

As Tammy’s illness was hitting, college closures were cascading across the country. The McMullens’ oldest daughter, Ebby, was at Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho as a freshman. Following news of the virus’ spread, Nazarene joined the ranks of shut-down schools, meaning Ebby had to come home March 14.

Even if Ebby wanted to fly under the circumstances, it wasn’t really an option. A track athlete, she was in rehab after ankle surgery and had to bring back crutches and a scooter. The injury also made it not feasible for her to drive back her stick-shift Jeep. Breaking the quarantine a day early, Tammy made the long drive to pick Ebby up.

Meanwhile, on Friday, March 13, the statewide school shutdown was announced. Ebby and her older brother, Brandon, who has time on his hands with the end of crab season, will be able to take care of Tressa, 12. In any case, Tammy says, Tressa is “pretty self-sufficient.” In fact, she’s ready to help others.

“She’s already put it out there, ‘if anyone needs me to watch their kids, I can do it.’ And I think we already have one family that wants her to watch their kids one day a week,” Tammy said that Sunday.

Tressa also has a horse to look after. But with school, sports and rodeo all shut down, she — and the family — have a chance to redirect their energies, while avoiding too much reliance on technology for entertainment.

“Tressa’s going to keep riding her horse. We’re going to try to make sure she’s active…. We’ve got some projects we want done around the house, stuff we haven’t normally been able to do. We’re going to do a project in the yard, spend quality time.”

For Ebby, life has been upended but she’s taking it in stride. She and her friends deliberated for several days before deciding to cancel a road trip planned for the college’s regularly scheduled spring break. Meanwhile, on her ankle, “Rehab was supposed to start next week (at the college). I’m trying to figure out how to rehab here.” She had an in-person interview for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program scheduled in Idaho for last week, then told them it would have to be a phone interview.

But like many people, she has made ambitious plans to get her through an indefinite spring break. She wants to learn to play piano and teach Tressa to play frisbee. She wants to help her community. “It’s one of the big things they emphasize at (Northern Nazarene). It’s one reason they’re sending us home, is to serve our communities … I plan to babysit, run errands, whatever is needed.”

One tough thing is that she and the family can’t help her grandmother, 85-year-old Joanne Mortensen of South Bend. Normally they mow her lawn and water her flowers, but now they want to avoid any risk of exposing her.

“My sister came up from Reno to stay in isolation with Mom,” Tammy explained.

The Harrells

Tim Harrell and his wife, Erin, have a two-year-old son, Max, and another child on the way. Tim teaches and serves as Athletic Director at Ilwaco High School, and Erin works at the Public Utilities District. They normally juggle their jobs and childcare responsibilities. But they also turn to friends, and to Harrell’s mother, for help. However, they aren’t sure what they will do in the near future.

“[Erin] and I were talking this morning, ‘are we going to social distance him’? My folks are in their late 60s, early 70s, the vulnerable age group,” Harrell said the Saturday after the school closure announcement.

Like many, they are still figuring things out.

“I told the (high school) kids…. I don’t have all the answers for you. This is something new for all of us. The last time something like this happened was 1918, and times are obviously more modern now. … We haven’t really faced a situation like this before.”

The Benenatis

Loretta Benenati, a single mother who is the lead family resources coordinator for Educational Service District 112, a regional special education service agency, faces a particularly trying time during the pandemic. Declan, 16, is severely developmentally delayed. The extensive care he normally receives from staff at school now becomes unavailable. He has a rare chromosome that compromises his immune system, which means she can’t bring him with her to work. His twin sister, Evelyn, has the duty of staying with him and watching him. Loretta doesn’t want to place too big a burden on Evelyn.

“I’ve never asked the other kids to provide primary care (for Declan),” she said. “She’s here to call me or call 911 if there’s a problem.”

Evelyn’s academic life won’t be affected by the school closure. She homeschools using the online Graduation Alliance program, which hosts online meetups. She’s used to having it quiet during the day, with the rest of her family out of the house.

“Now it’s not quiet ever. She has horses outside…. Now she can’t go out and ride horses” much of the time.

Loretta and Evelyn are also responsible for two foster children (Ryker, 6, and AddiLynn, 4). Ryker was in kindergarten, AddiLynn in preschool. They had been splitting time between the Benenati household; their mother, a restaurant cook now churning out takeout meals; and their grandparents. With seniors being among the groups most vulnerable to the pandemic, “We try to keep the grandparents out of it (now),” Benenati said.

Evelyn and Declan also have two older siblings, Keegan, 22, and Isabel, 21. Keegan is a student at Washington State University and lives in Vancouver. Isabel graduated from WSU and lives in Portland, working part-time at a child-care program as she waits to go back to WSU for her Master’s Degree. Loretta knows she has them available in reserve in case of emergency.

“[Isabel] and Keegan come home periodically to help with the kids…when they sense that I need it,” Loretta said.

The Dodsons

As Chelsey Dodson returned from a New Orleans vacation with her husband, Stephan, the world was changing, and she had a fever. The Ocean Beach Medical Clinic, where she works, kept her home. But having just returned from vacation, she is out of paid time off and so was forced to take unpaid vacation.

“There’s (expenses) we’ll have to cut out,” Dodson said Tuesday. Like Tammy McMullen, she was told to quarantine herself for 72 hours after the fever breaks.

Her symptoms were minor, so she had little fear that she has Covid-19. Even if she could get a scarce coronavirus test, she didn’t think it was worth getting tested and thereby exposing other medical workers to illness.

Meanwhile, the family prepared for life during the school closure. The Dodsons have four children: thirteen-year-old Kailee, 11-year-old Emilee, 10-year-old Madison, and one-year-old Colt. Stephan works for Active Enterprises, the propane company.

“The girls think they’re old enough to take care of themselves,” Chelsey said. “Fortunately, the daycare reopened.” That helps for Colt.

Kailee will have to be in charge of her sisters.

“She’s going to have her homework to do, and she’ll have to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to do and staying out of trouble,” Dodson said. “We’ve tried to help her create a schedule.”

The Dodsons have told Kailee that she’s not alone.

“We don’t want her to think she’s the only person in charge,” Chelsey said. “(Stephan) works close enough that he can step in. And we have people in the community that are helping us. While I’ve been home sick, people here have been getting me things. I think the community is becoming more of a community as a result of this.”

•••

As the school closure dragged on, school packets hastily sent out were already, for some, being exhausted and becoming a smaller part of life. Families began settling into new routines. We checked in on some.

The Chadwicks

Sixteen-year-old Naselle High School sophomore Josh Chadwick watched the livestream of Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcement of school closure during his AP politics class. Kids from other classrooms trickled in as permitted by their teachers.

He texted his mother, Amy Chadwick: “the current state of the union is… we’re coming home.”

Amy Chadwick, the proprietor of Azure Salon in Ilwaco member of the Naselle-Grays River school board, had been discussing at the salon whether this would happen since Oregon’s state-wide school closure the previous day. She and Dan, a regional captain for Fish and Wildlife, have two sons, Josh and 11-year-old Leith.

“I asked Josh what he’s been hearing from school,” Amy said. “Josh was going to be really upset (if school closed). He likes school, he’s an academic…it’s his social life as well.” Leith was much more excited about possibly being off school. But they were envisioning perhaps two weeks off school. When Governor Inslee announced six weeks, Chadwick was worried.

“I was worried about continuity of education for both kids,” she said. “And thinking they’ll be home without me.”

“A lot of my friends who are seniors were not happy about basically missing out on their senior year,” Josh said.

Amy told Josh to prepare to look after Leith.

“Josh is naturally a leader. He’s one to look out for his little brother. I did tell him ‘it’s a real possibility I’m going to need you to do some tutoring.’”

As it turned out, Amy is home with her kids, for now anyway; salons are shut down at least through month’s end.

Leith came home with reading assignments and questions for discussion with family. Josh came home with his own assignments. He was also already doing online learning.

The school packets only go so far. To a large extent, families are figuring things out on their own. Life for the Chadwicks is more laid back right now in some ways, living in isolation on their six-acre lot.

“It’s fun to schedule, to some degree, more flexibility” Amy said. “We’ve got longer lunch breaks, and more time to do certain things….I’ve become a quasi-homeschool parent. My youngest is learning about the feudal system, and I find it fascinating. I want to reenact it and he’s like, ‘do we really have to?’”

Josh has stayed connected with friends electronically.

“We’ve been keeping up,” Josh said. “I have one friend who didn’t have an X-box, and he went out and bought an X-box so he could play with us.”

But it isn’t always easy for him.

“He’s a social creature,” Amy said. “Early on in the week, before we really understood what social distancing consisted of – well, I guess we understood it, but we were in kind of a transition period for applying it – he told me some kids from the track team were thinking of hiking Saddle Mountain. At first I thought it was a great idea – get outside, get some exercise. And then a day or two goes by and I start asking ‘wait a second, how many are considering going? If it’s more than 10, then it can’t be done.’”

The hike never happened.

Most kids in Josh’s circle, or their parents, are similarly cautious. Josh was recently allowed to go on a bike ride with a close friend, but is careful to avoid being confined indoors with friends.

Meanwhile, Amy has Azure to worry about. She is the sole proprietor, and the other stylists rent the space from her.

“We’re supposed to be able to work in April, but I think we’d all be surprised if we got back to work April 1.”

She went in one day to tend to things and record a new voice-mail message.

“I was sitting in the front area and people looked in and saw me.” She wondered if they were looking critically at her. “It’s like, Okay, I’m here, but I’m not cutting anybody’s hair. Then I crossed over to the post office. There were people there and I wanted to hold the door open for them but I felt like I shouldn’t. Everything is so awkward.”

The Engelsons

Holly and Nate Engelson of Naselle, like Benenati, have a child with a severely compromised immune system. Charlotte, now two years old, had health complications from the time of her birth, needing heart surgery and esophagus surgery. She also had a rare condition, medium-chain acyl-coa dehydrogenase (M-CADD), which causes the immune system problem.

Nate is a log truck driver and mechanic, and Holly is Charlotte’s primary caregiver. Charlotte’s siblings are Gabriel, 18; Cheyenne, 9; Vanessa, 7; and Emmett 4. They and their parents have spent two years taking precautions similar to the ones people everywhere are taking in early 2020, and in some respects more stringent.

There’s a hand-washing station when you come in the house. The kids have to change out of their school clothes right away when they come home. They’ve had to wear masks.

“Last year, I pulled all the kids out of school for two weeks during flu season,” Holly said Saturday.

Still, their lives have been disrupted like everyone else’s. They have had to isolate themselves where they hadn’t before.

“There’s normally doctor’s appointments and stuff to do; play dates, school, sleep-overs, skating, swimming,” Holly said. But now, “I don’t even want to see people.”

Any illness is a crisis for Charlotte. Just in February, she had pneumonia. But the covid outbreak compounds anxieties, as hospital trips, at least in hot spots, become a greater risk.

“If I take her in (for something), do I expose her to the virus? That’s my biggest fear…She has respiratory issues. And then would I be quarantined?”

While the Engelsons are accustomed to taking precautions, they have watched the rest of the world slowly get used to doing so.

Holly got a group-text inviting one of her kids to a birthday party. Another parent in the text advised against the party, and it was cancelled.

Worries aside, the family is enjoying the school break in many ways. Without school, they have had more time than usual to enjoy their 12-acre lot. Like the Chadwicks, they have a lot of free time.

“(The school) sent packets home, and they worked on those…But we’ve sent them outside. We’ve done some gardening. We’ve been sewing up some masks….We have our own private playground and a trampoline, and the weather has been very cooperative.”

Forced to distance themselves from the rest of the world, people are turning to their families for strength. Friends and neighbors are doing their best to stay connected and help the vulnerable while maintaining physical distance. Less than two weeks into a very strange period in our lives, the families profiled here show the adjustment that is beginning to take shape.

‘We have people in the community that are helping us. While I’ve been home sick, people here have been getting me things. I think the community is becoming more of a community as a result of this.’

Peninsula mom Chelsey Dodson