Jeff Plunkett has been the Hamilton Township health officer for 25 years, but the past month may have been the most trying time of his career.
While acting as a go-between for the Waller family, the state, the school district, township officials, the media and the public at-large, Plunkett heard plenty of criticism for how officials handled the immediate aftermath of Eli’s death.
More recently, Plunkett and the health office has been handling many of Andy Waller’s appearances, including his spot with Anderson Cooper on CNN Oct. 10. Plunkett said he has felt an obligation to help the Wallers, most notably because his wife, Ceil, taught the Waller children at Yardville Elementary Schools for more than a year.
Plunkett spoke with the Hamilton Post’s Rob Anthes Oct. 15 at the township health office. What follows is an edited transcript.
Hamilton Post: Were you prepared for the Enterovirus D68?
Jeff Plunkett: Good question. Yes and no. We certainly had discussed internally that the virus was here, had seen it presented both in the media and releases from the state and discussed its possible effects. No, in the sense that I don’t think anyone really thinks it’s going to happen there, that a 4-year-old’s going to pass away. From that aspect, we had no script, had no personal plan, had to sit and discuss and make decisions. The only thing we said was, ‘We can’t be wrong. We cannot make a mistake.’ I think all of us felt that way, and that’s what we went by.
HP: Have you learned anything from this experience?
JP: I think I’ve learned from all of our experiences. I will say 2001 and anthrax, that experience was a help in dealing with this experience. Things that we did or did not do back then and was clearly on the forefront of our minds to do now. Whether it was information to the media, information to the community within the school, the district, the community at-large, how to be prepared for events that changed every hour, and that we were greatly improved on. If you feel like you had a miss in a certain area, then take that and put it in your notes for the future.
HP: Would you do anything differently knowing what you know now?
JP: I thought the one question in the districtwide meeting was really relevant, and that was to contact the bus services and the transportation groups. That was something we wouldn’t miss on in the future. We really did not have that tree to follow up on. The drivers themselves brought that up. It clearly was a relevant point, and something that we reacted to immediately and tried to correct. That I would do different.
Honestly, I would advise the school district to notify sooner the entire district, not just the Yardville community. And even if it was little bits of information, instead of waiting for more grouped information. Today, with robocalls, email, Twitter and Facebook, it’s easy to do. People have a tendency when you don’t give them information, even if it’s a speck or one sentence, that they think you’re hiding something. Not one iota of anything was hidden.
HP: Because of that vacuum of information early on, a lot of rumors swirled. Do you think that by improving how you distributed information to the public, you can prevent that?
JP: I would hope so. Even this morning, at 8:30 in the morning, someone posted something on our Facebook. That is a learning process for us all. I would like to think that if that was the case, people would trust you. We all live here, too, and we’re here for all of us. In my heart, I would like to think that most people think we’re telling the truth.
HP: Is there anything else about this that you’d like to add?
JP: The health department, we have a responsibility to everybody. That’s something we don’t take lightly. We take a lot of pride in trying to do it right. We might not be the best at knowing everything right away, but we’re really good at knowing where to find it. We’re better than really good at caring. If we can care at that level, the other things will work itself out.
Hamilton Township health officer Jeff Plunkett speaks to the media Oct.10 during a press conference at the HamStat training center, next to the township golf center on Samuel Alito Way. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
