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New WIC Office to Assist Mothers, Kids in South Area

Posted on: Thursday, 23 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Loretta Kalb, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Mar. 23--She was 18, pregnant and had watched her older sister go through a tough time as a new mom. So Jasmine Flores did what her mother urged her to do: She got help from Sacramento's Women, Infants and Children program on Broadway. On Friday, Flores, now 20, held her bright-eyed 8-month-old daughter, Abigail, as she talked about how she learned of WIC and sought information about nutrition and guidance on breast-feeding. She shared her story during the open house for the fifth WIC site in Sacramento County administered by the nonprofit Community Resource Project. The site, some 4,000 square feet at 8231 E. Stockton Blvd., opened last month about a half-mile north of Elk Grove. Maureen Clark, WIC program director with the Community Resource Project, said the new site will enable women and children in the southern area of the county to enroll more easily. WIC provides nutrition services and education to pregnant, postpartum and breast-feeding women, infants and children up to age 5. The program provides families with vouchers for nutritious food and offers educational sessions on nutrition. There also are sessions on healthy foods, shopping tips for stretching a budget, breast-feeding education, feeding progression for infants, and more. To participate in the program, families must fall within certain income limits. A family of four, for example, may qualify with a monthly gross income of $2,984. For a family of two, the monthly gross-income limit is $1,978. About 60 percent of the 15,000 people in Sacramento County already served by the WIC Community Resource Project use the WIC offices in North Highlands and Citrus Heights, Clark said. The balance, some 40 percent of clients, go to the WIC offices in Galt and on Broadway in Sacramento. Another 25,000 people are served by the Sacramento County WIC program, bringing the total to 40,000. Even so, an estimated 52 percent of the eligible population in Sacramento County is not being reached, Clark said. Jasmine Flores had a better chance than most to learn about the service. Her mother has worked for the agency for about a decade, Flores said. "I have always come to WIC," she said. "I used to volunteer and help my mother. So, when I got pregnant with Abigail, my mom helped me enroll." Flores said WIC worked with her to overcome her baby's inability to easily breast-feed, helped her buy baby formula and worked with her on meeting nutrition needs. The WIC program receives federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state Department of Health Services oversees the California program, which consists of 82 county and private nonprofit agencies delivering WIC services throughout the state. Money for special projects comes from First 5 Sacramento, a source of local agency funding, and from Catholic Healthcare West, Clark said. "Our goal is to prevent health problems later in life," she said. "It's positive public health intervention." IN THE KNOW For more information on the Women, Infants and Children program in Sacramento County, call (916) 326-5830.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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