Essential Nutrition and Healthcare Support for Local Families

 

 

More families than ever are finding it hard to put healthy food on their dinner tables. For young children, poor nutrition can lead to health problems and academic struggles in school. North Carolina’s WIC program helps low-income families meet the nutritional needs of pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children up to age 5. WIC applicants receiving Medicaid or EBT/SNAP are automatically income-eligible.

 

“While adding more fruits and vegetables to these families’ diets is an important part of our program, participants get more than food from WIC,” said Cassidy Parker, Nutrition Program Director for Johnston County Public Health. “WIC offers families nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding promotion and support, supplemental foods, and even health care referrals.”

 

North Carolina’s WIC Program serves more than 200,000 participants each month. Studies show that children enrolled in WIC are more likely to receive regular preventive health services and be better immunized than children who do not. WIC participants also receive one-on-one counseling with a nutrition professional.

 

Breastfeeding promotion and support are important parts of the WIC Program as well. All WIC agencies have trained staff ready to help moms make informed decisions about how they feed their babies. WIC also teaches moms the basics of breastfeeding, with classes available in both English and Spanish. Better-educated moms mean healthier babies. Medicaid beneficiaries who participate in WIC have lower infant mortality rates than Medicaid beneficiaries who do not. WIC participation also decreases the incidence of low birth weight and preterm births.

“WIC is so much more than people realize,” Parker said. “The nutrition education and healthy foods that WIC provides really give children a healthy start in life, which is so important.”

 

The WIC Program is available at the Johnston County Public Health Department, located at 517 N. Bright Leaf Blvd. in Smithfield. You may apply for WIC by scheduling an appointment between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

 

To be eligible, a person must:

• Be a pregnant woman; a breastfeeding woman who has had a baby in the last 12 months; a woman who has had a baby in the last six months; an infant; or a child up to the fifth birthday.
• Reside in North Carolina.
• Meet income eligibility requirements. The gross annual household income cannot exceed 185% of the federal poverty income guidelines. All beneficiaries of Medicaid, Food and Nutrition Services (food stamps) and Work First meet the WIC income eligibility criteria.
• Have an identified nutritional risk as determined by a health professional.

 

For more information about WIC or to make an appointment, visit the Johnston County Public Health Department or call 919-989-5255. You may also visit the WIC website at www.ncdhhs.gov/nc-wic-cacfp. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.