WIC catches up with more modern eating habits
For the first time in its history, the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program is significantly modifying which items may be purchased with its vouchers.
The changes, which went into effect Oct. 1 in a program called “WIC and You: Making Healthy Choices Together,” allows participants the ability to purchase items like whole grains, soy milk, tofu, pink salmon and sardines, as well as other items.
Rosemary Davignon, director of the WIC program in Chester County, said WIC was struggling for about 10 years to get these changes in place, adding that the Institute of Medicine seriously started looking at the changes in 2004. The proposed changes then had to work their way through Congress and then the United States Department of Agriculture.
Davignon, a registered dietician and nutritionist, said the changes were made because people know more about nutrition than they did when WIC started its pilot program in 1972 in West Virginia. She added that people are more aware of the health risks of obesity.
“At the time, people [thought they] needed calcium, protein and Vitamin C,” Davignon said. “In the mean time, there has been a lot more understanding in nutrition. Plus, people’s dietary patterns are more diverse.”
According to the WIC Web site, the federally funded program will dole out more than $206 million to Pennsylvania for the 2009 fiscal year (up 17 percent over last year), and will provide food for about 265,000 residents (up about 5 percent from June of 2008).
The WIC program came to Pennsylvania in 1974, starting in Allegheny County, and made its way to Chester County in 1978.
Davignon said 5,500 Chester County residents benefit from WIC, which has a county budget of $3.9 million, with $3 million going toward the purchase of food.
Participation has been steadily increasing over the years, Davignon said, and whether that’s a good stat or a bad one is up to interpretation.
“If there is a need and people can find us, then that’s good, [but] the fact that there is a need — that’s bad,” Davignon said. “It depends on which way you want to evaluate it. In one way, we’d almost like to not be here …”
She said Chester County is one of the richest counties in the state, and the rise in WIC participants could be representative of people recently getting laid off, or losing full-time work and replacing it with part-time. The Chester County WIC program has about 400 more participants than it did a year ago. The previous two years, the number of participants only went up by about 200. Davignon said there could be a decline in WIC participants next year, as the economy grows stronger. Still, the amount of infants in Chester County enrolled in WIC is 25 percent — half that of the national number, according to Davignon.
The WIC program provides wholesome foods, nutrition education and services to eligible pregnant women, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children up to age five.
Each participant must meet residency requirements and income guidelines, and be individually determined as a “nutrition risk” by a health professional.
For more information about Chester County’s WIC program, call 610-344-6240, or visit www.chesco.org/wic.
The changes, which went into effect Oct. 1 in a program called “WIC and You: Making Healthy Choices Together,” allows participants the ability to purchase items like whole grains, soy milk, tofu, pink salmon and sardines, as well as other items.
Rosemary Davignon, director of the WIC program in Chester County, said WIC was struggling for about 10 years to get these changes in place, adding that the Institute of Medicine seriously started looking at the changes in 2004. The proposed changes then had to work their way through Congress and then the United States Department of Agriculture.
Davignon, a registered dietician and nutritionist, said the changes were made because people know more about nutrition than they did when WIC started its pilot program in 1972 in West Virginia. She added that people are more aware of the health risks of obesity.
“At the time, people [thought they] needed calcium, protein and Vitamin C,” Davignon said. “In the mean time, there has been a lot more understanding in nutrition. Plus, people’s dietary patterns are more diverse.”
According to the WIC Web site, the federally funded program will dole out more than $206 million to Pennsylvania for the 2009 fiscal year (up 17 percent over last year), and will provide food for about 265,000 residents (up about 5 percent from June of 2008).
The WIC program came to Pennsylvania in 1974, starting in Allegheny County, and made its way to Chester County in 1978.
Davignon said 5,500 Chester County residents benefit from WIC, which has a county budget of $3.9 million, with $3 million going toward the purchase of food.
Participation has been steadily increasing over the years, Davignon said, and whether that’s a good stat or a bad one is up to interpretation.
“If there is a need and people can find us, then that’s good, [but] the fact that there is a need — that’s bad,” Davignon said. “It depends on which way you want to evaluate it. In one way, we’d almost like to not be here …”
She said Chester County is one of the richest counties in the state, and the rise in WIC participants could be representative of people recently getting laid off, or losing full-time work and replacing it with part-time. The Chester County WIC program has about 400 more participants than it did a year ago. The previous two years, the number of participants only went up by about 200. Davignon said there could be a decline in WIC participants next year, as the economy grows stronger. Still, the amount of infants in Chester County enrolled in WIC is 25 percent — half that of the national number, according to Davignon.
The WIC program provides wholesome foods, nutrition education and services to eligible pregnant women, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children up to age five.
Each participant must meet residency requirements and income guidelines, and be individually determined as a “nutrition risk” by a health professional.
For more information about Chester County’s WIC program, call 610-344-6240, or visit www.chesco.org/wic.
