The Southeastern Utah Health Department has a program called WIC that is a nutrition program that helps families eat well and stay healthy. Castle Country Radio had the opportunity to sit down with WIC Director, Teresa Martinez to learn more about the program.
“I first want to say, so what WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children. So you do have to be a women that is pregnant, breastfeeding, or up to six months post-partum and then we do infants, children up to the age of five. So you do have to fit those categories to qualify,” explained Martinez. If a family is on Medicaid or Food Stamps you are automatically eligible for the program. Although, you may not qualify for Medicaid or Food Stamps your income level could still be eligible for the WIC program. You can access the WIC income guidelines off the Southeastern Utah Health Department website at https://www.seuhealth.com/
Recently, the WIC program has changed to a Smart Card to purchase WIC food instead of using paper checks/vouchers. “Over the last six months we have transitioned all our participants from the paper to what we call eWIC which is basically a debit card that they can use at the grocery stores and it’s been a great transition. Our clients and the stores are loving the change,” said Martinez. This has made purchasing items easier, allows for purchases to be done throughout the month and makes it so clients are able to check monthly balances.
An increase in funds will begin in June to allow clients to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. “With the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 so it’s the bill that just got passed. For the summer months they actually increased the fruits and vegetable amount starting in June to $35.00 per participant – so this is a huge increase. This is per participant so if you have multiple kids and let’s say you’re pregnant each of you would get $35.00,” said Martinez. These funds will only run for the months of June, July, August and September.
The WIC program is a wonderful service that assists families who are in need of their services plus it provides nutrition and health education. “It is nutritious food that you get from us. It kind of helps get those staples in your fridge, you know you have the gallons of milk, the cheese, the eggs, and so your dollar, food dollars that you have for yourself definitely can stretch a lot farther,” said Martinez.
To learn more about the WIC program visit the Southeastern Utah Health Department website at https://www.seuhealth.com/