WIC SERVICES
WIC BY THE NUMBERS
WIC HAPPENINGS
Food Delivery Unit Tidbits
Ten New Things About WIC Data & Reports
Minnesota e-WIC Planning
Training, participant survey, new Food Finder App and more
Data, reports, fact sheets, health indicators
Kick-off activities and planning contract awarded
PAGE 3
PAGE 4
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MINNESOTA WIC NEWS FOR HEALTH ADMINISTRATORS, DIRECTORS & COORDINATORS
FROM THE DIRECTOR
AUGUST 2015
WIC OUTREACH
OPEN
ACCESS
TO WIC PROGRAMS
BENEFITS OF
Sharing Staff
& Coordination
OF WIC SERVICES
WIC IS AMONG MANY public health
programs that can benefit from multi-county
coordination and collaboration.
When counties within a Community Health
Board (CHB) combine efforts and coordinate
COST
WIC services, some of the benefits may include:
lower costs
• m
ore access to highly qualified staff for
•
high risk participants
ACCESS
EFFICIENCY
COVERAGE
• improved coverage by utilizing skilled
CPAs across county boundaries
•
efficient use of limited resources
Continued on page 2
It has come to WIC's attention
that some WIC programs are located
within buildings that have added new
check-in or sign-in procedures for visitors
to the building. Some of these new
procedures can impede access for some
WIC-eligible individuals and families and
also violate the privacy of individuals
seeking WIC services.
WIC Programs must ensure that
eligible individuals can easily
access WIC Services and also ensure
that the data privacy of WIC participants
and applicants is not compromised.
Continued on page 4
COVER STORY CONTINUED
SHARING STAFF & SERVICES
Some examples of successful CHB WIC coordination that are happening here in Minnesota include the following:
Quin
Community Health
Board has staff who
serve all ten WIC clinic
locations.
Horizon
Community Health Board has been
working toward greater collaboration
across 5 counties for a number of years.
They have one WIC Coordinator/Supervisor,
one Nutrition Education Coordinator, and one
Breastfeeding Coordinator to serve across the
5 counties. Horizon WIC staff hold regular
staff meetings to coordinate and learn from
each other. The Horizon WIC Program has
benefited by having WIC staff work across
county lines, providing each other additional
back-up and support. The CHB jointly places
orders for supplies and completes a single
Nutrition Education plan rather than
separate plans for each.
Meeker-McLeod-Sibley
Faribault-Martin
Counties Human Services has WIC staff assigned to work in each county,
but the staff is also available to work in the other county as needed.
This contributes to better clinic coverage and prevents the need for part-time
WIC staff that can struggle to stay updated on all the necessary WIC Program
complexities. Staff from one county can jump right in to help in the other county
due to consistent procedures and practices across the agency.
Community Health Board utilizes a Registered
Dietitian to serve as a resource for high risk WIC
services across all three counties in the CHB.
Registered Dietitians can not only contribute to the
success of the WIC Program, but also SHIP and other
public health education and outreach efforts. This CHB
also has regular staff meetings for WIC staff and clinic
coordinators, along with a relatively standardized set
of procedures making it easier for staff to provide
services in different counties. The consistency across
the CHB also contributes to easier coverage in one
county when staff is unexpectedly out.
The strong collaboration for the WIC Program within these CHBs
Grantees may also contract across CHB and tribal lines for
is evident in the quality and consistent nutrition services provided
purposes of sharing WIC staff. This strategy allows grantees
to eligible families.
access to Registered Dietitians and other staff for services to high
risk participants, vacation and sick leave coverage, and other
Another type of benefit of strong coordination in the WIC Program
purposes.
in CHBs is the opportunity to share best practices and creative
solutions to meeting the needs of the local WIC population. Less
WIC local agencies that are interested in exploring how they
populous counties can join together to create a larger entity to
can collaborate and coordinate may contact their State WIC
realize efficiencies and share resources to create more economy
Consultant to discuss and consider options for their program.
of scale for WIC and other public health programs and services.
CONNECT WITH US INPUT IDEAS QUESTIONS CONCERNS 800.657.3942 [email protected]
Betsy
THE WORD ON WIC
2
WIC SERVICES
Group Training for Stores
The Food Delivery Unit is currently engaged in the task of providing updated interactive
training for all of the nearly 1000 retail food stores participating in the WIC Program.
From May through August 2015, staff will conduct over 25 training sessions across the
state and another 8 webinar sessions for the large chain stores.
FOOD
DELIVERY UNIT
TIDBITS
New WIC Vendor Training Coordinator
We are pleased to announce that Emily Gomez was selected to fill this new position and began
work on May 12th. Emily has a BS in Nutrition from the University of Minnesota and brings
to the WIC program a unique perspective, having worked in the retail food industry for the past
7 years. For most of this time, Emily was the WIC Manager for Super Valu. In this position,
Emily gained valuable experience working with many WIC state agencies on a variety of activities
involving the development and maintenance of their WIC food lists and the distribution of the WIC
foods. In performing these tasks, Emily engaged in a number of training activities and developed
a variety of materials, obtained insight into the development of e-WIC, served on a number of
vendor advisory groups in other states, and participated in some business partnership meetings
with the National WIC Association.
Participant Survey on Foods and Shopping
New WIC Foods Added
IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THIS YEAR, a WIC participant survey was administered to WIC
families in 13 local agencies around the state. The purpose of the survey was to obtain
participant input on the WIC foods, the resources available to help them shop and to
learn more about their WIC shopping experience.
ON APRIL 6, 2015, the Minnesota WIC Program
became the first state to add 32 ounce
yogurt and 16 ounce whole wheat pasta
to its WIC allowed food list. As a result of these
changes, the WIC Shopping Guide was updated and
has now been disseminated to all WIC families.
The participant survey involved a collaborative effort between a number of geographically
and ethnically diverse local agency staff and state agency staff. The surveys were made
available in English, Spanish and Somali and participants were free to select the survey
which felt most comfortable to them. Overall, 773 surveys were completed.
The survey included questions on language preference (spoken and written); shopping
(frequency, who in the household shops, and where, etc.); other demographics (racial/ethnic
identity; number in household participating in WIC, number of years on WIC, etc.); foods
purchased and not purchased (what and why); and what helped them in navigating the
grocery store (e.g., Shopping Guide, WIC staff, “Welcome to WIC” video, etc.).
The next steps include reviewing and summarizing open-ended responses, doing further
analysis, sharing survey findings with all local agencies and local agency-specific data with
the local agencies who administered it.
The 32 ounce yogurt is especially popular
with WIC participants
but it may
take participants
a little time
to become
more acclimated
to the whole wheat
pasta choices.
CONNECT WITH US INPUT IDEAS QUESTIONS CONCERNS 800.657.3942 [email protected]
Food Finder App
WE HAVE PARTNERED with CSC, the WIC MIS
contractor, to create a mobile app for Apple and
Android devices that will make it easier for
participants to select WIC allowed foods.
Participants will use the camera on their smart
phone to scan UPC barcodes and instantly
verify if a food is WIC allowed in Minnesota.
Participants will also be able to manually enter a UPC or PLU barcode
to verify WIC allowed foods. The app is being designed to allow for
the addition of EBT functionality in the future, such as providing benefit
balances. The WIC Food Finder App was developed in response to feedback
we received from participants and grocery store staff indicating that WIC
customers have difficulty determining what foods are WIC allowed. Most
WIC participants now have access to a smartphone and are familiar with
and commonly use a variety of apps on their smartphones. Originally
piloted in Isanti County, the WIC App was rolled out statewide in
June. So far the feedback from participants and stores has been favorable
– it’s easy to use, links to the Shopping Guide, and works on both Apple
& Android phones.
THE WORD ON WIC
3
WIC HAPPENINGS
2020
Statewide
Implementation
2019
UAT, Pilot,
Begin Roll-out
2018
Implementation
Planning
2017
MN e-WIC
PLANNING
Minnesota WIC recently awarded an e-WIC planning
contract to MAXIMUS. Kick-off activities with state staff
began the week of April 27th. Some of the recent
stakeholder activities have included:
Procurement
& Contracting
e-WIC webinar for LAs (posted on the MDH WIC Website)
Meeting with WIC Advisory Group
Web-based survey for LA staff about training,
implementation, staff knowledge, etc.
Meetings with vendor technology work group
and Vendor Advisory Group, webinar for vendors,
and vendor survey
COVER STORY CONTINUED
OPEN ACCESS
An individual’s participation in the WIC
Program is considered private data
according to WIC Federal Regulations.
We have also learned about some simple
strategies that WIC grantees have used to
maintain both access to WIC and also the
privacy of applicants and participants. One
simple way of doing this is to separate WIC
activities from the secure/locked work areas
containing Federal Tax Data. We were able
to capture this strategy
at work in a local WIC
program recently.
We encourage all local
agency WIC Programs to work with their
buildings and facilities staff to ensure
both access to WIC and data privacy of WIC
applicants and participants. Contact your State
WIC Consultant if you have questions.
A new e-WIC web page for local agency staff
about e-WIC planning activities, resources and
general timeline can be found at:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fh/wic/
localagency/ewic/index.html
WIC BY THE NUMBERS
10
NEW THINGS About WIC Data & Reports since HuBERT
❶
❷ New
Query tool
"Infoview"
New Information
System (HuBERT)
Data-Driven Factsheets
❺
❾
Provides data to assess
Health Disparities
❸
Expanded
State Staff
Resources
Epi • GIS • Report Design
❻
GIS Maps
❹
Annual Summary Data
❿
800.657.3942
[email protected]
The WORD on WIC is published
by the WIC Program of the
Minnesota Department of Health
P.O. Box 64882
St. Paul, MN 55164-0882
❼
Displayed in
MDH WIC Website
and Data Wheel
Process of Responding
to Data Requests
C0NNECT WITH WIC
Provides data to assess
Health
❽KeyIndicators
MDH Center for Health Statistics sponsored a webinar presented by MDH
WIC staff on April 7, 2015. The slides and reference resources are currently
available online such as reports, maps and fact sheets at:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fh/wic/localagency/training/infosys/
index.html
The U.S Department of Agriculture prohibits discrimination
against its customers, employees, and applicants for
employment on the bases of race, color, national origin, age,
disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where
applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental
status, sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual's income
is derived from any public assistance program, or protected
genetic information in employment or in any program
or activity conducted or funded by the Department.
(Not all prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or
employment activities.) To file a discrimination complaint, write to:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Director, Office of Adjudication,
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410,
or call (866) 632-9992 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (TTY).
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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THE WORD ON WIC
4